Following a final investment decision by Shell companies, plans to develop a large hydrogen plant in the Netherlands will move forward.

Shell announced Wednesday that the Holland Hydrogen I project will be “Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen plant” when it begins operations in 2025.

The 200 megawatt electrolyzer, according to Shell, will be placed in the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest seaport, and will generate up to 60,000 kg of renewable hydrogen each day.

Hydrogen has a wide range of uses and can be used in a variety of sectors. It can be made in a variety of ways. Electrolysis, in which an electric current splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, is one approach.

If the electricity utilised in this process is renewable, such as wind or solar, it is referred to as “green” or “renewable” hydrogen.

Shell stated that the electrolyzer in the Netherlands would be powered by renewable energy from the Hollandse Kust (noord) offshore wind farm, a 759 MW project expected to go live in 2023. Shell has a stake in the wind farm.

The plant’s hydrogen will be routed to the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam via a new hydrogen pipeline dubbed HyTransPort.

The goal is that this renewable hydrogen “will replace some of the grey hydrogen” utilised at the plant, which is created using fossil fuels.

“This will partially decarbonise the facility’s production of energy products like petrol and diesel and jet fuel,” Shell said.

Shell’s senior vice president for developing energy solutions, Anna Mascolo, said in a statement that renewable hydrogen will “play a crucial role in the energy system of the future, and this project is an important step in helping hydrogen fulfil that potential.”

Shell says it plans to “create a net-zero emissions energy business” by 2050, according to an update note sent on Thursday ahead of the company’s second-quarter results later this month. The firm is still a big producer of oil and gas, and it has been sued for its net-zero aspirations.

Shell’s plans for a renewable hydrogen plant in the Netherlands are the latest move by major corporations to stake a claim in the field.

Another oil and gas behemoth, BP, said in June that it had agreed to buy a 40.5 percent ownership part in the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, a massive project planned for Australia.

At the time, BP stated that it would become the development’s operator, adding that it had “the potential to be one of the world’s greatest renewables and green hydrogen hubs.”

In the same month, Siemens Energy and Air Liquide announced plans to form a joint venture to manufacture “industrial scale renewable hydrogen electrolyzers in Europe.”

(Adapted from Bloomberg.com)