Hobro I – Hydrogen Testsite

Challenge

In Hobro, Denmark's first commercially operated PtX plant is located. Hydrogen Valley owns an adjacent building to this plant, where there is a direct hydrogen pipeline. Since the price of hydrogen is crucial when testing new equipment, there is a business opportunity for the North Jutland partner companies in this project to establish a test center with direct access to the pipeline from the adjacent electrolysis plant.

Solution

The test center will not only test hydrogen but also other types of fuel cells and hydrogen-consuming equipment. In the same neighborhood are the companies Ballard Power Systems Europe A/S, Blue World Technologies ApS, and SerEnergy (Advent Technologies A/S). These three companies will all be customers of the center, as both Blue World and SerEnergy produce methanol fuel cells, and Ballard produces hydrogen fuel cells – all three for the transportation sector.

The goal of the project is to have the test center setup conceptualized and fully defined, so that the financing process for building the test center can be completed by 30.06.2023, and a contract agreement is reached between the investor and the involved partners.

Impact

While Denmark has long focused on wind energy as the major green export success, many actors have already designated PtX as Denmark’s next green export success. Although Denmark is advanced in its development, there is still a growing need for increased testing efforts if we are to keep up with the leading players in Europe and meet the market's demands for green fuels in the near future. A test center in the region would clearly enhance our competitiveness, and utilizing an already commercially operated plant would both accelerate the process and thus speed up the green transition, not only in the region but also in Denmark in general. Additionally, the involvement of the many local companies will contribute to increased employment growth.

The project is part of the Northern Jutland business hub, CO2Vision, which is managed by a consortium consisting of Energy Cluster Denmark, Erhvervshus Nordjylland, Aalborg University, Aalborg Portland A/S, Arbejdsmarkedskontor Midt/Nord, Business Region North Denmark, Green Hub Denmark, EVIDA, and the North Denmark EU Office.

CO2Vision is funded by REACT-EU funds.
You can read more about CO2Vision here: www.co2vision.dk.