“With our ongoing project to establish hydrogen production through our company H2 Production, we will be one of the first actors to commercially offer hydrogen in Norway”

— Ronny Haufe, CEO of CCB Energy

In the last Cluster Catch-up, Hafslund Eco shared their thoughts on how hydrogen can be part of the solution for the future and how they work on hydrogen. This time we had a chat with CCB Energy Holding.

CCB Energy is a company group working to establish circular value chains of climate-friendly, sustainable industries at the Energy Park in Øygarden. At this location, its subsidiary, H2 Production, will produce clean hydrogen, starting in 2022. Ronny Haufe is the CEO of CCB Energy and H2 Productions.

What is CCB Energy’s primary focus right now?

We are in the process of establishing new industries within carbon capture or reduction, which includes direct air capture, hydrogen production, bio industries and utilization and handling of CO2. In the Energy Park, Northern Lights is also building a plant to receive and transport CO2 for permanent storage underneath the seabed, and this enables opportunities to deposit captured CO2 locally for industries established in the area.
This year our focus is on hydrogen. Through our subsidiary, H2 Production, we are establishing our first plant to produce clean hydrogen at the Energy Park. We constantly work to ensure that the project is moving aligned with the planned milestones to have the production plant in place by the end of this year. Our hydrogen will be produced from natural gas and will be the first plant to include CO2 capture in the production process. In this project we are cooperating closely with ZEG, who is the technology provider. With access to both natural gas, which is a great natural resource for Norway, and to the first location world-wide enabling open-sourced CO2 deposit under the seabed, the Energy Park is a unique location to produce hydrogen in this way. The production starting up this year will have reduced capacity, but in the next phase the plans are to scale up to a large-scale hydrogen production.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for CCB Energy in the future?

As a first runner in new industries, one will always encounter new challenges. With our ongoing project to establish hydrogen production through our company H2 Production, we will be one of the first actors to commercially offer hydrogen in Norway. In this context, our main challenge is an immature market for hydrogen. Investors in the market are hesitant to start projects because they are awaiting supply and availability of hydrogen, while suppliers are hesitant to start producing hydrogen because of the lack of demand. We also experience that when it comes to new and unexplored issues, rules and regulations are not always in place.
Another general challenge for the upcoming years, is the limitation of power capacity in our part of Norway. We see that new, green industries on a general basis require more electrical power. For our current hydrogen project, this is not an issue, but for other industrial establishments that we are planning, the lack of power capacity might represent a challenge. With regards to opportunities, we are very optimistic for the future. The industrial areas that we own, together with Øygarden municipality, is a unique location to establish climate-friendly industries given the access of resources and the possibility to deposit CO2 locally. For the Energy Park, we envision a circular value chain with synergies and industrial symbiosis between climate-friendly companies. This kind of circular value chain makes each industrial actor stronger and reduces the risks with regards to OpEx and CapEx. And we see a growing interest from green companies, both in Norway and internationally, wanting to be a part of this.

How can hydrogen be a part of the solution for the future?

We believe that hydrogen will have an important role in contributing to less use of fossil products for the end users, and by this a needed reduction in the CO2 emissions. To get there, we believe it will be necessary to achieve an acceptable market price for the product. This can be achieved by using scale friendly technology where hydrogen can be ensured as a clean product, considering the whole production value chain, from input to output. As the market will develop, the hydrogen demand will increase, and in order to contribute as a substitute for fossil fuels and other products, large quantities will be required. For Norway, we believe that both producing hydrogen from natural gas and from electrolysis will be part the solutions for the future. Norway has built its wealth from the petroleum industry, but we know that a transition is required for a sustainable future. The production of hydrogen from natural gas, with CO2 capture and storage, can play an important role in this transition. To be able to utilize a natural resource of which Norway has abundantly, and produce clean hydrogen from it, which can be used without emitting greenhouse gases, represents a great opportunity for future solutions. And this will be a reality in the Energy Park in 2024.

What is your primary focus when it comes to sustainability?

CCB Energy strives to achieve a future industry park consisting of primarily industry that have a positive impact on the climate. We focus on various areas and industries with specific goals to reduce the carbon emissions, either by capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere or by reducing the emissions from industrial processes. Our overall ambition is to identify synergies between the different types of industries in order to create a circular value chain, where surplus resources or waste from one company can serve as a resource to a neighbour company. For example, surplus heat from an industrial actor can be utilized by another industry to replace some of its need for electricity, or waste from a fish farm can be used as a resource to produce biogas. This type of circularity results in a reduced total need for resources and power, which is how we interpret the essence of UN’s sustainability goals. In CCB Energy, we support all of UN’s sustainability goals.

Why did you decide on becoming a member of Ocean Hyway Cluster?

CCB Energy’s owners, Bernh Larsen Holding and Norsea Group, have been supporting and serving the maritime industry for decades. Our company has emerged from Coast Center Base (CCB) at Ågotnes, which is a company group with the same owners, carrying almost 50 years of experience within the maritime industry. Many years back, with our owners, we were the first in Norway to provide LNG towards the offshore fleet, and we were also the first to provide shorepower to vessels and thereafter towards oil rigs staying at our harbours. We have a goal to deliver fossil free products towards our users and customers. We see ourselves as a natural member of Ocean Hyway Cluster with our reference to handling and supporting the maritime industry the last 48 years. And we strongly believe that being positive to a cooperation brings out the best for all members and parties. Since we are in a beginning phase with establishing hydrogen production and distribution, this cluster provides us access to a very interesting and relevant network in our region.