The excavation for this new structure has already been carried out at the Shell Rhineland refinery in Wesseling. With the support of the European Union, the REFHYNE Consortium will generate hydrogen using electricity instead of natural gas starting from the second half of next year. The ultimate aim is to produce “green hydrogen made in Cologne” using renewable electricity in the near future, thus making an important contribution to the energy transition.

The ground-breaking on 25 June thus had to be celebrated as befitted the occasion.  Frans Dumoulin (Director of the Shell Rheinland refinery), Dr. Thomas Zengerly (Chairman of General Management Shell Deutschland Oil), Christoph Dammermann (State Secretary, Ministry for Economics, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia), Bart Biebuyck (Executive Director, EU Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking) and Simon Bourne (Chief Technical Officer ITM Power) symbolically took up shovels before 100 invited guests.

Simon Bourne underscored the great significance of this project: “This ground-breaking for the world’s largest PEM electrolysis plant is an important moment (...). Industrial-scale electrolysis today is regarded as an important element in decarbonising key industrial processes, and the REFHYNE project is the first step on the way to 100 MW industrial plants and beyond.”

(Source: Shell; photos: Dieter Jacobi)