Gen2 Energy AS, HYON AS and ASCO Norge have together applied for soft funding from Enova for a hydrogen hub for maritime transport in Nordland, named the Green Artic HyHub. The hydrogen hub will include large scale production of compressed hydrogen in Mosjøen and bunkering sites for maritime transport in Sandnessjøen and Mosjøen.

Norwegian emissions within the maritime sector must be halved by 2030 and zeroed by 2050 according to Norway’s Green Shipping ambition. To reach this, two challenges must be addressed: production of low-carbon fuels at competitive prices and development of efficient bunkering solutions.

To address these challenges, Gen2 Energy, HYON and ASCO are partnering in a project to produce cost-competitive compressed green hydrogen at large scale and make it available to fuel several types of vessels in Nordland. A bunkering network from Mosjøen and Sandnessjøen ports, for fuelling cost-competitive hydrogen to maritime customers or to swap containers onboard vessels, will be set up.

“We are very pleased to team up with ASCO and HYON, two highly experienced maritime fueling and hydrogen bunkering companies”, says Jonas Meyer, CEO in Gen2 Energy. “The three companies have the combined capability to offer an easy to adapt and cost competitive hydrogen bunkering solution, which has proved attractive to the maritime sector underlined by the high amount of interested offtakers in Sandnessjøen”.

Sandnessjøen is an optimal site for establishing a maritime hydrogen hub because of its strategic location, the number of port calls per year by a variety of vessel types and the available infrastructure for maritime transport.

G2E will establish a compressed hydrogen production plant at the industrial site of Nesbruket in Vefsn municipality to produce 15,250 metric tonnes/year (mt/y) green hydrogen and together with suppliers develop 20/40 feet containers that can hold hydrogen at 350 bars specially designed for fuelling or swapping purposes within the maritime sector.

Fast fuelling is key for maritime applications as the fuel tanks are large and the allowed time for bunkering is short. HYON is specialised in delivering fast and safe fuelling solutions for hydrogen to ships, providing the missing piece in the hydrogen value chain. HYON will develop a fuelling solution for large vessels enabling to refill fuel tanks with 1000 kg hydrogen in 30 minutes, much faster than current solutions (<80 kg in 30 min) which only exist for onshore transport (i.e., trucks and vehicles).

“This project has the needed scale to deliver hydrogen at competitive prices in the maritime sector, and by that to accelerate the transition from fossil fuel to zero emission shipping. We are proud to partner with G2E and ASCO to realize this project which will have high local and global impact”, says CEO Jørn Kristian Lindtvedt in HYON.

ASCO provides a comprehensive package of Supply Base Services to the energy industries and operates an established network of own bases (including Sandnessjøen) and joint ventures along the entire Norwegian coast. ASCO will lead the establishment of processes and infrastructure, including cranes, quays and warehouses, for safe storage and swapping of containers.

“This project fits perfect with our strategy for further growth and investments in new business areas. We have our own ambitious climate goals, and projects like Green Arctic HyHub anchors our ambitions to play an important role in ensuring that our customers and society in general achieves their climate goals”, says Strategy and Business Development Manager Ståle Edvardsen in ASCO.

There is a strong desire to start utilising the fuelling stations for green hydrogen once in operation, proven by eight signed Letters of Intent from maritime users. In addition, several Letter of Intent have been signed related to onshore applications with different local and regional companies within transport and industry.

“The strong combination of maritime and onshore users of hydrogen will increase utilization of equipment, reduce cost for end-users and result in high amount of produced hydrogen per supported capita received.”, says CEO Jonas Meyer in Gen2 Energy.