Hamburg sets its sights on becoming Europe’s hydrogen hub

One of the continent’s largest electrolysis plants will be built in the city after the signing of a letter of intent by four companies

The industrial companies Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Vattenfall and Kommunale Wärme Hamburg are planning how they can jointly generate and use green hydrogen from wind and solar power at the Hamburg-Moorburg power plant in the future. In addition to the construction of an electrolyser with a capacity of 100 megawatts, the recently signed letter of intent also envisages the future development of the site into a so-called “Green Energy Hub”.

Moorburg – ground zero for building a hydrogen economy

Moorgburg is the perfect place to begin Hamburg’s journey to becoming a true hydrogen hub. For starters, overseas ships could call at the location directly and use the quay and port facility as an import terminal. The municipal gas network company also wants to expand a hydrogen network in the port within ten years and is already working on the necessary distribution infrastructure.

Furthermore, according to the project partners, numerous potential customers for green hydrogen are located in the vicinity of the site, so that the entire hydrogen value chain - from generation to storage and transport to specific applications in the various sectors.

For many years, Moorburg has been the location of a gas power plant owned by Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke (HEW). In 2015, Vattenfall put a coal-fired power station into operation here. Its commercial operation was terminated after the power plant won a bid in the auction for the nationwide coal phase-out in December 2020.

The city of Hamburg and Vattenfall are striving to make use of and clear and further develop parts of the site for the project in order to generate green hydrogen and transform it into the city’s green energy hub which will play a crucial role in its future climate-friendly growth.