ABB collaborates with Lhyfe and Skyborn on one of Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen projects
Powered by Skyborn’s planned offshore wind farm, the plant in Söderhamn, Sweden, will produce around 240 tons of hydrogen per day, equivalent of around 1.8 million barrels of oil per annum
ABB is collaborating with Lhyfe, a world pioneer in the production of renewable hydrogen, and Skyborn, a global leader in renewable energy, to jointly realize and optimize 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 1 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 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 decarbonizing the industrial and transportation sectors.”
As part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the companies, ABB will apply critical expertise to optimize 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 will support the decarbonization 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. 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.
ABB is a technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. The company’s solutions connect engineering know-how and software to optimize how things are manufactured, moved, powered and operated. Building on more than 130 years of excellence, ABB’s ~105,000 employees are committed to driving innovations that accelerate industrial transformation. www.abb.com
Lhyfe is a European group devoted to energy transition, and a producer and supplier of green and renewable hydrogen. Its production sites and portfolio of projects intend to provide access to green and renewable hydrogen in industrial quantities, and enable the creation of a virtuous energy model capable of decarbonizing entire sectors of industry and transport. In 2021, Lhyfe inaugurated the first industrial-scale green hydrogen production plant in the world to be interconnected with a wind farm. In 2022, Lhyfe inaugurated the first offshore green hydrogen production pilot platform in the world. Lhyfe is represented in 11 European countries and had 149 staff at the end of 2022.
Skyborn is a pioneer and leading offshore wind developer and operator with more than 20 years’ experience and a track record of approximately 7 GW built, approved or under procurement around the globe to date covering the entire offshore wind value chain, including greenfield development, engineering and design, procurement, financing, construction management and asset management. Skyborn's portfolio includes a global pipeline of > 30 GW in various stages of development. Headquartered in Germany, the company is present in 14 markets globally.