Hydrogen valleys are EU-led initiatives that aim to establish operative hydrogen value chains at a local level through collaboration between various sectors and industries. The hope is that these individual chains will pave the way for a fully realised hydrogen economy as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Hydrogen Valley Mid-Norway covers the region between Tjeldbergodden in the south and Rørvik in the north. It represents a total investment of EUR 150 million to develop a hydrogen value chain that will produce, distribute, use and store 20,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year by 2030. This will enable the region to cut up to 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
At the launch, SINTEF’s Executive Vice President of Sustainability and HYDROGENi Centre Director Nils Røkke emphasised the importance of collaboration to realise hydrogen’s potential as a contributor to the green shift.
“If we manage to connect research to industry and political initiatives, then we have an opportunity for success,” he said.
“We don’t have the time to consider value chains lineally – we must develop each part simultaneously,” he continued.
SINTEF Senior Research Scientist Sigrid Lædre also welcomed the development:
“Hydrogen Valley Mid-Norway is important for the establishment of cost-effective hydrogen value chains in Mid-Norway. We are lucky that we have so many local industry actors who see the value of collaboration on the production and use of hydrogen, and it is extremely exciting for us in SINTEF to see that our multi-year efforts in this area are now going to be realised on a large scale.”
In addition to SINTEF and RENERGY, there are sixteen other partners in this initiative: NTE, ANEO, H2 Marine, Gexcon, Moen Verft, Samskip, Egil Ulvan Rederi AS, Moen Marin, ASKO, SalMar, Statkraft, Siemens, Equinor, Greenstat, Meråker Hydrogen and FME HYDROGENi (which is led by SINTEF).
