Skip to main content

Shell consortium plans bulk hydrogen production project

A consortium of Shell Deutschland Oil and Shell Energy Europe with partners ITM Power, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy plans a project to install a large scale electrolyser to produce hydrogen at the Wesseling refinery site within the Rheinland Refinery Complex. With a capacity of ten megawatts, this would be the largest unit of its kind in Germany and the world’s largest PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) electrolyser.
September 4, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

A consortium of Shell Deutschland Oil and Shell Energy Europe with partners ITM Power, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy plans a project to install a large scale electrolyser to produce hydrogen at the Wesseling refinery site within the Rheinland Refinery Complex.

With a capacity of ten megawatts, this would be the largest unit of its kind in Germany and the world’s largest PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) electrolyser. This electrolyser technology is also suitable to improve the stability of the electricity grid with a growing share of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as from solar and wind.

The consortium has been invited to the preparation of a grant agreement by the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU), following a competitive call for proposals.

Today, the refinery uses approximately 180,000 tons of hydrogen per year in its various plants. The hydrogen is currently produced as a by-product of the refining process or through natural gas reforming, while electrolysis uses electricity to split water into the base components of hydrogen and oxygen.

The project aims to enable the construction and operation of a large scale10 MW electrolyser that can produce high quality hydrogen and CO2 free hydrogen while demonstrating technology and cost improvements through up-scaling and new business applications. Electrolysis using low-cost renewable electricity could be a key technology for a potential CO2 free hydrogen production in the Shell Rheinland Refinery.

Related Content

  • Hyperloop project aims to link Venice and Padua
    February 8, 2024
    Hyper Transfer is designed to reduce traffic between the two Italian cities - if it is built
  • Profitable niches in the electric vehicles market
    December 18, 2015
    Vehicles are electrifying at a breakneck speed and they are being completely reinvented with developments in many components and systems, according to a report by IDTechEx Research. Disruptive change and significant technological innovation is now being seen across all forms of electric vehicles for land, water and air. The fruits of all this are spectacular – from the vehicles themselves to over US$500 billion market opportunity that will be created by 2026. IDTechEx Research analyses and forecasts eve
  • TÜV Rheinland to provide support for UAT for Virginia’s 495 Express Lanes
    August 14, 2012
    TÜV Rheinland’s ITS group has been selected to provide user acceptance testing (UAT) support for the 495 Express Lanes, the new high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes opening on the Virginia side of the I-495/Capital Beltway at the end of this year. The project is one of the largest transportation endeavours in the US, aiming to ease traffic on one of the country’s most congested corridors and UAT is a key testing component of the project that will involve testing all aspects of the Express Lanes tolling hardware
  • LG’s V2X solution gets Common Criteria certification
    September 25, 2024
    VW Transceiver Module is telematics component for OEM's engine-specific MQB platform