ABB has announced that it is collaborating with Lhyfe and Skyborn to jointly realise and optimise what is billed as one of Europe’s most ambitious renewable hydrogen projects ever, SoutH2Port.
The new hydrogen production plant, operated by Lhyfe and Skyborn, will be located in the municipality of Söderhamn, Sweden, and connected to Skyborn’s one gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm in nearby Storgrundet. When fully operational, it is expected to produce about 240 tons of hydrogen per day, with an installed capacity of 600 megawatts (MW), making it one of the largest suppliers of renewable hydrogen in Europe.
“This collaboration is a key part of our strategy in both the hydrogen and offshore wind markets,” said Brandon Spencer, president of ABB Energy Industries. “Creating a seamless supply chain, through partnerships such as these, is essential to accelerate the energy transition. Hydrogen plays a crucial role in helping achieve the world’s climate goals when it comes to decarbonising the industrial and transportation sectors.”
As part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the companies, ABB will apply critical expertise to optimise the integration of the hydrogen and electricity production across the entire ecosystem including automation, electrical and digital technologies and drive the development of scalable, commercial energy transition projects in and around the region. The aim is to explore opportunities to tie-in Power-to-X conversion technologies turning renewably sourced electricity into carbon-neutral energy carriers, such as hydrogen, and storing the energy for later use.
“We are delighted to have such a global technology leader as ABB, who shares our conviction in the Power-to-X potential of the SoutH2Port project, join our collaboration with Lhyfe. I look forward to taking this project to the next level with the help of ABB and their unrivalled expertise within this field,” said Achim Berge Olsen, chairman of Skyborn Renewables Sweden.
“By combining our expertise and solutions, we can cost-effectively and safely expand the value creation attached to the scale up of renewable hydrogen production,” said Taia Kronborg, co-founder and chief business officer at Lhyfe. “Skyborn’s track record in offshore wind power, Lhyfe’s expertise in renewable hydrogen production coupled with ABB’s technological expertise creates new opportunities for enabling Power-to-X solutions linked with renewable hydrogen production at scale.”
The new plant is designed to support the decarbonisation of the Swedish energy system, either directly with hydrogen supply or by further downstream production of refined fuels such as methanol, sustainable aviation fuel or ammonia – contributing to the government’s plans to become the world’s first fossil-free welfare country by 2045. It is hoped that SoutH2port will also further contribute to boosting the attractiveness and competitiveness of the region and local society through the creation of new jobs and business opportunities.
