Plans to create clean hydrogen in Greater Bergen

The Norwegian firms ZEG Power and Coast Center Base (CCB) are planning to produce the sustainable fuel at a facility at Kollsnes in Øygarden municipality.

The facility could one day help to power Norway’s shipping industry, which is looking for alternatives to fossil fuels such as diesel and LNG.

CCB is the joint owner of Kollsnes industrial park, where natural gas from the North Sea is brought to land. ZEG Power will convert some of this gas to hydrogen using one of its proprietary “ZEG-H2” plants.

The partners also plan to store the resulting CO₂ emissions nearby under the seabed, ensuring that their hydrogen is produced in a sustainable way.

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The two companies hope to have established a small‑scale pilot module by 2021, before moving to full production in 2023.

“We are very happy to initiate this exciting project together with ZEG Power”, says CEO Øyvind A Langedal at CCB.

“Conversion of natural gas to clean hydrogen is a significant industrial opportunity for Norway and Øygarden municipality, and is part of CCB’s long term strategy to contribute to reduced climate impact”.

Growing interest in CCS technology

The companies’ hydrogen plant will be located next to a planned CO₂ storage facility at Kollsnes, known as the “Northern Lights” project.

Led by oil majors Equinor, Shell and Total, the Northern Lights scheme involves capturing large amounts of carbon from industrial sites and storing it deep under the sea.

The project will be capable of storing 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year when it is complete, and will represent Europe’s largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiative.

Equinor will make a final investment decision on the scheme in early 2020, meaning work on site could start as early as 2021.

CCB and ZEG Power’s partnership could also involve storing carbon under the North Sea. Their announcement comes as a growing number of Norwegian companies are exploring CCS as a way of reducing their carbon emissions.
 

Kollsnes will be the home of the Northern Lights project, Europe’s largest CCS scheme. Photo © Equinor / Helge Hansen.

A boost for Norway’s shipping industry

If the two companies’ project is a success, it could have a huge impact – not just for the firms themselves, but also for the wider region of Greater Bergen.

Hydrogen is likely to play a key role in the region’s shipping industry in future, as local authorities and industry members try to cut down on fossil fuels.

The NCE Maritime CleanTech business cluster is looking at how fast ferries, cruise ships and even large cargo ships could switch over to hydrogen power in coming years.  

However, in order to achieve this transition, Norway’s west coast will need a steady supply of the clean fuel.

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Hege Økland, the CEO of NCE Maritime CleanTech, explains that the Scandinavian nation cannot count on its European neighbours to provide this supply.

“Our volume scenarios and cost comparisons clearly show that the current European capacity is both too small and distant to serve a Norwegian maritime market,” states Økland.

In light of this, CCB and ZEG Power’s new initiative to produce hydrogen at Kollsnes seems to be an important step in the right direction.

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