Once built, the plant will be one of the world’s largest.
Mitsubishi Corp., the major Japanese corporation and trading house, intends to invest more than 100 billion yen ($690 million) to construct the largest green hydrogen production plant in the Netherlands, and one of the largest in the world.
The aim is for the plant to produce up to 80,000 tons of hydrogen annually.
If the plant does achieve its planned capacity of 800 megawatts (MW) and generate as much as 80,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, this would make its capacity almost 30 times greater than the world’s largest facility currently in operation.
Eneco Diamond Hydrogen will be responsible for the plant’s production. Eneco Diamond Hydrogen is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Corporation and its subsidiary Eneco, a major renewable energy company in the Netherlands.
Electricity from Eneco’s large offshore wind farm in the Netherlands will be used to generate the hydrogen, reported Nikkei Asia. It’s the company’s intention to sell the hydrogen via its retail electricity sales network and supply it to manufacturing and power businesses in Europe by way of pipelines.
Mitsubishi aims to improve knowledge for commercializing green hydrogen.
In particular, the mega Japanese corporation chose Europe for its plans to refine commercialization knowledge in areas like hydrogen production and supply. Europe is an ideal location as it is presently the world leader in green hydrogen development, with the EU seeking to boost its annual capacity for green H2 to 10 million tons by 2030. Mitsubishi wants to take what it learns from this project and use it to expand globally.
According to a PWC analysis, it costs about €3 – €8 ($3.28 – $8.37) to produce a single kilogram (kg) of hydrogen generated from renewable energy. This is a much higher cost than the €1 – €2 per kg for hydrogen produced from fossil fuels. Mitsubishi’s goal is to lower the cost of green hydrogen by mass producing it.
The plant should be operating by the end of the year.
Eneco submitted its hydrogen plant planning application in November of last year (2023). According to the application, construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in 2026.
If all goes as currently planned, the green hydrogen plant is slate to begin operation and start generating hydrogen in 2029.
