Equinor & Engie plan billion-EUR hydrogen plant in Flanders
Norwegian energy company Equinor and French multinational utility company Engie are one step closer to building a large hydrogen plant in Flanders – at North Sea Port in Ghent, one of Flanders’ leading seaports, to be precise. If the plans for the new plant go ahead, the project will involve an investment of around EUR 1 billion.
Feasibility study completed
Back in 2021, Equinor and Engie announced that they were launching a feasibility study to produce hydrogen from natural gas in Ghent. The idea involved capturing the released CO2 and storing it in Norway under the North Sea.
“This feasibility study for a 1-gigawatt project is now complete,” Equinor announces in a press release. The technical and economic suitability of a potential site at Engie’s Rodenhuize site near Ghent was thoroughly analyzed in the process.
Joint development agreement
Both companies have now decided to sign a joint development agreement. “We are now in the next phase, where studies will be carried out about the environmental impact, safety, soil and other aspects,” an Engie spokesperson confirms. The final decision on the potential billion-euro investment should be reached by 2025.
Full steam ahead for hydrogen at Flanders’ ports
In addition to North Sea Port, other seaports in Flanders also have concrete and ambitious plans to build hydrogen production plants. In 2022, the province of West Flanders granted the environmental permit for the construction of Hyoffwind’s green hydrogen facility in Zeebrugge. In the meantime, American project developer Plug announced the construction of a green hydrogen production plant on the former Opel site in the Antwerp port area of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
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