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 project is to be located in close proximity to Skyborns’ 1 GW offshore wind farm Storgrundet in Söderhamn, Sweden, where Skyborn and Lhyfe recently entered a sales purchase agreement with Stora Enso for an industry property of around 40 hectares. Fully operational, SoutH2port 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 joining our collaboration with Lhyfe for the development of the South2Port Power-to-X project. This is clearly a strategic move for the project, and we believe that the collaboration will enable us to accelerate our high ambitions in the region,” 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 well fare 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.