Norwegian Hydrogen, Provaris to develop new hydrogen export sites in Nordics

Building on their existing partnership, Norwegian Hydrogen AS and Provaris Energy have announced a new agreement to jointly identify and develop new sites in the Nordic region for the large-scale production and export of hydrogen to European markets. 

The green hydrogen projects, utilizing locally available renewable energy to produce hydrogen for shipment to European ports, will assist energy-intensive industries and target a scale and level of innovation that aligns with various European Union funding schemes, the company claim. 

They further add that the new projects will be strategically located in areas with robust grid connections and power supplies, facilitating the construction of state-of-the-art electrolyzers, and hydrogen compression facilities linked to export jetties. 

More specifically, Provaris' H2Neo carriers will transport the hydrogen, while the H2Leo barge will serve for storage. The initiatives are also aimed at fostering circular economies by utilizing by-products like clean oxygen and waste heat in local industries and district heating systems.

Jens Berge, CEO, Norwegian Hydrogen, commented, "While we develop a comprehensive network of production sites and distribution infrastructure across the entire Nordic region, to reduce emissions in the Nordics, we have also identified several sites with significant export potential". 

"While such locations could also be used to produce other derivatives such as e-methanol or green ammonia, we strongly believe that if the end demand is for gaseous hydrogen, nothing would be better than to avoid going via a derivative solely for transportation purposes. Provaris' technology makes it possible to bring hydrogen in gaseous form all the way from production in the Nordics to the customers in continental Europe", he noted.

Utilizing insights from the successful pre-development activities for the FjordH2 project, completed in 2023, the companies are reviewing potential sites across multiple Nordic countries for the development of a comprehensive portfolio of hydrogen development projects.

A new collaboration with Norwegian Hydrogen for greenfield sites in the Nordics builds on the success of our work together in 2023 and the platform they have developed in the Nordics as a producer of hydrogen", said Martin Carolan, Managing Director and CEO, Provaris.

"This partnership can accelerate development sites that will leverage Provaris' downstream activities for supply of green hydrogen to German utilities who are seeking regional volumes of green hydrogen, and more recently, the joint development of a compressed hydrogen import terminal with Global Energy Storage (GES) at the Port of Rotterdam can provide market access to industrial offtake markets within the port and broader Europe", he added.