The plant will combine green hydrogen and CO2 from a combined heat and power station to produce e-methanol.
The ‘FlagshipONE’ facility will use renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen and a nearby biomass-fired combined heat and power station to produce biogenic carbon dioxide.
The carbon-neutral fuel can be stored and used in ‘dual-fuel’ ships to help decarbonise international maritime transport, which accounts for 3% of global carbon emissions.
The plant, to be located in Örnsköldsvik, northeastern Sweden, could produce up to 50,000t of e-methanol per year from 2025, and require up to 470GWh of renewable electricity per year to run the electrolysers.
A 70MW Siemens Energy technology package based on four proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers will produce the green hydrogen.
Developed by Swedish company Liquid Wind, the facility was sold to Ørsted in December 2022.
Anders Nordstrøm, chief operating officer of Ørsted P2X, said that partnerships were necessary “to accelerate and develop the power-to-x solutions needed for the hard-to-electrify sectors”.
It is hoped that the plant will act as a blueprint that can be scaled and replicated at other locations. Liquid Wind plans to develop ten similar facilities in Scandinavia by 2030. The second project at Sundsvall will have a 140MW electrolyser and the third, in Dåva, will be a joint venture with local energy supplier Umeå Energi.
Anne-Laure de Chammard, executive board member for transformation of industry at Siemens Energy, said: “Without hydrogen or alternative fuels such as e-methanol, there will be no energy transition. We need to ramp up these novel industries as quickly as possible, which in turn requires economically viable business models and private investment.”
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