How the Port of Rotterdam is enabling the energy transition with hydrogen

The Port of Rotterdam is on a mission to decarbonise its operations and drive the energy transition forward with the integration of renewable energy, notably for the production of hydrogen.

Enlit on the Road visited Rotterdam to explore how Europe's biggest port is investing in a green future.

In this video interview with Enlit Europe's Patrick Bauduin, Randolf Weterings, who manages the port’s electrification and hydrogen projects, explains how they are a driver for creating a sustainable industrial ecosystem in the region as they aim to cement Rotterdam’s position as Europe’s leading energy hub.

The port’s hydrogen portfolio covers the complete hydrogen value chain, including projects related to import/export, production, infrastructure and usage in industry and heavy mobility.

Amongst the collaborative projects, Shell is currently building Holland Hydrogen I, which will be Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen plant once operational in 2025 on the Tweede Maasvlakte in the port of Rotterdam

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Decarbonising the Port of Rotterdam

Weterings sees a port’s role as a key enabler for companies in and around the region to decarbonise by providing open access infrastructure.

“We focus on renewable power, because that's…where it begins. So offshore wind, but also on the renewable power in the Port of Rotterdam itself,” said Weterings.

“We focus on electrification in the port. So the companies that want to use the electricity in order to decarbonise and a very important element in that is hydrogen.

“We work together with all the customers in the port area itself, but also with the companies that are connected to the Port of Rotterdam. And we help them to decarbonise.”

The Port of Rotterdam is a key driver for creating a sustainable industrial ecosystem for this region.
“What we do is we make sure that all the elements in order to decarbonize are there,” explains Weterings.

“So, for example, for green hydrogen, you need a lot of green electricity production. And we work together with several companies and partners in order to get a lot of renewable power towards the Port of Rotterdam.

“Towards 2030, we work on 7.4GW of offshore wind capacity that will land in the Port of Rotterdam, which can then be used by companies to electrify but also, for example, for hydrogen production.

“Next to that, what we also do is we build the infrastructure, the open access infrastructure, where all the companies in the port can make use of, from production from users from importing terminals. And in that way, they can find each other and can use each other's products."

Weterings explains that decarbonising the Port of Rotterdam can also be an enabler for future hydrogen markets by creating enough renewable power for hydrogen production and providing open access infrastructure like pipelines to facilitate offtake.

Rotterdam is a unique example for Europe in that “all the elements of the energy transition are very close by”, says Weterings.

“We have the terminals that connect Rotterdam in Europe…and continents all around the globe.

“And we have a large scale industry that can use, for example, the green hydrogen already on a large scale. We have the market over here… starting with industries which can use hydrogen, the companies that are already used to using hydrogen, they're familiar with that, they know how to handle it.

“We can also switch from industry to other sectors, for example, to heavy transportation, and that makes Rotterdam I think a very unique place in Europe, but also a very important place to decarbonise Europe as well.”

Do you want to learn more about the decarbonisation efforts in the port of Rotterdam and the Rotterdam municipality?
Register to join our Enlit on the Road live event on September 6, in... Rotterdam.