Royal HaskoningDHV will act as environmental consultant for NortH2, the largest green hydrogen project in Europe. The company’s contribution is part of the Assess Phase upon which further decisions are made that should lead to a final investment decision – planned for 2024. This could potentially lead to first green hydrogen production in 2027.
The NortH2 project, announced in February 2020, provides for large-scale production of green hydrogen in the province of Groningen using power from offshore wind farms (wind-to-hydrogen). The project comprises the entire green hydrogen value chain in five functional systems from source to end user: new 10GW+ windfarms in the North Sea ca. 130 km from Eemshaven, the infrastructure to bring the power onshore, a new electrolyser plant in Eemshaven where the energy is converted into green hydrogen, the pipelines to deliver the hydrogen to the industry clusters in Northwest Europe and underground storage of hydrogen in salt caverns to be able to match supply and demand.
The project is to become the European center of green hydrogen production, with green hydrogen supplied across the border. NortH2 wants to produce 4GW green hydrogen by 2030 and potentially over 10 GW by 2040.
The consortium behind the project consists of Shell Nederland, Gasunie, Equinor, RWE and supporting partners Groningen Seaports and the province of Groningen. Challenges for NortH2 are related to the sheer size of the project developed by a large private-public consortium, legal requirements and (local) stakeholders.
As Permits, Consents, Environmental Impacts & Local Stakeholder Consultant, Royal HaskoningDHV will apply its knowledge and experience in similar complex projects to map NortH2’s environmental and safety aspects. It will also deliver a legal framework for all NortH2 components for construction and operation. Furthermore, Royal HaskoningDHV will deliver a roadmap for obtaining the necessary permits and consents and it will map all relevant stakeholders, and environmental and social issues connected to the plans.
The commitment should lead to a final investment decision in 2024. NortH2 hopes to produce the first green hydrogen in 2027.
