TotalEnergies to boost green hydrogen supplies to EU refineries

TotalEnergies SE is expanding its partnership with Air Liquide SA to increase production of green hydrogen that the operator will use to help decarbonize its refineries in Belgium and the Netherlands.

As part of an agreement signed on Feb. 18, TotalEnergies and Air Liquide will form a 50-50 joint venture that aims to build and operate a 250-Mw electrolyzer project near the TotalEnergies (55%)-Lukoil PJSC (45%) jointly owned Zeeland Refinery NV’s 147,000-b/d Zeeland refinery in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, that will enable production of up to 30,000 tonnes/year (tpy) of green hydrogen, most of which will be delivered to the Zeeland refining platform, TotalEnergies and Air Liquide said in separate releases.

To be supplied by renewable power from the 795-Mw OranjeWind Dutch offshore wind farm currently under development by TotalEnergies (50%) and RWE Renewables Benelux BV (50%), the proposed €600-million electrolyzer project—if approved—will be commissioned in 2029 and deliver enough green hydrogen to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the Zeeland platform by up to 300,000 tpy, the partners said.

Under a separate Feb. 18 transaction, TotalEnergies also signed a tolling agreement for 130 Mw of Air Liquide’s 200-Mw ELYgator electrolyzer project under development in Maasvlakte, Rotterdam, to be dedicated to production of 15,000 tpy of green hydrogen for delivery to the operator’s 338,000-b/d refining platform in Antwerp, Belgium.

Scheduled for startup by yearend 2027, the ELYgator electrolyzer project—to which TotalEnergies has also agreed to supply renewable electrons produced by the OranjeWind project for the operator’s share of green hydrogen production—will reduce CO₂ emissions at the Antwerp platform by up to 150,000 tpy, according to the companies.

While decarbonization of its refineries remains a primary aim, TotalEnergies’ supply of renewable power to the ELYgator and Zeeland electrolyzer projects also highlights the operator’s ongoing long-term transformational strategy of gradually pivoting operations away from its traditional oil and gas history in alignment with its aim to achieve carbon neutrality across the entirety of its business by 2050.

“By supplying these two electrolyzers with renewable electricity from our offshore wind project in the Netherlands, TotalEnergies is leveraging its positioning as an integrated electricity company,” said Vincent Stoquart, president of TotalEnergies’ Refining & Chemicals division.

Additional project details

Air Liquide additionally confirmed it will use electrolyzer technology manufactured by its joint venture with Siemens Energy AG for both the ELYgator and Zeeland electrolyzer projects.

Air Liquide previously partnered with Siemens on its 200-Mw Normand’Hy electrolyzer to deliver green hydrogen aimed at helping decarbonize TotalEnergies’ 253,000-b/d integrated Normandy refining and petrochemicals platform in Gonfreville l’Orcher, France, as part of the operator’s plan to decarbonize all hydrogen used by its European Union conventional and renewable refineries by 2030 (OGJ Online, Sept. 14, 2023).

Thanks to its existing hydrogen pipeline network, Air Liquide separately said its ELYgator electrolyzer project will also be able to serve additional Dutch and Belgian customers with industrial and heavy-duty mobility needs.

In addition to renewable power production from TotalEnergies’ share of OranjeWind, Air Liquide said it has also signed power purchase agreements for the ELYgator project with Vattenfall AB to receive renewable power supplies from its Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) wind farm in the Dutch North Sea.