Port of Antwerp-Bruges joins hydrogen race

US fuel cell developer Plug Power is to build a large-scale hydrogen generation plant in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges’s NextGen district.

The plant with 100MW of electrolyser capacity will produce 35t/day and up to 12,500t/year of liquid and gaseous green hydrogen for delivery into the European market.

Plug Power has signed a 30-year concession agreement on the plant, on which construction should start on completion of the permitting process, anticipated in late 2023. Initial production of green hydrogen is expected in late 2024.

“[Plug Power’s] project is exactly what we have in mind when it comes to circular economy,” commented Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

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“We are giving hydrogen every opportunity as an energy carrier and fuel and are therefore committing ourselves as an active pioneer in the hydrogen economy.”

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges – its name reflecting the merging of the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge – is Europe’s second-largest, after the Port of Rotterdam.

As major users of energy with heavy manufacturing and other facilities, ports have emerged as important players in the energy transition and with their strategic locations offer wide connection potential.

In the case of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, it sits at the centre of the largest chemical industry cluster in Europe and claims sixty percent of the region’s purchasing power with 500km.

The Port, like Rotterdam, has the ambition to become a major hydrogen hub for Europe.

Circular economy

The site location in the NextGen district, which is dedicated to companies supporting the circular economy, provides the opportunity for a ready supply of electricity from on-site and site-adjacent wind turbines, a statement says.

The site also offers water, road, rail and pipeline access for the delivery of green hydrogen to customers. An open-access hydrogen pipeline will be built along the site and Plug Power and the Belgian gas TSO Fluxys plan to investigate the feasibility of a connection to what will be a European hydrogen backbone.

Plug Power also is exploring the circular use of wastewater expelled during the production of green hydrogen. The second company so far to commit to the NextGen district, the Belgian water recycling company Ekopak, plans to install a progressive water plant at the site to convert wastewater from Antwerp into higher quality sustainable cooling water for reuse by companies in the port.

In addition, Plug Power intends to contribute to decarbonising the logistics flows of the port with material handling solutions, fuel cell vans through the HYVIA joint venture with Renault and stationary power solutions for shore power.

Plug Power is becoming a major player in Europe’s hydrogen economy. In May the company was awarded an order to deliver a 1GW electrolyser to hydrogen company H2 Energy Europe for an offshore wind-powered green hydrogen production complex near Esbjerg in southwest Denmark – the largest capacity electrolyser installation in the world to date.