Gotland Company and H2 Green Steel work together for green hydrogen-supply to shipping

H2 Green Steel (H2GS) and Swedish shipping company Gotland Company, have entered into an agreement to explore the possibility to establish a production plant with the capacity to supply part of Gotland Company’s fleet with green hydrogen.

The global shipping industry is a large emitter of greenhouse gases, and is facing a huge, but necessary, shift. Many different solutions are being developed in order to reach the climate goals, and one of them is the use of green hydrogen gas as fuel.  

H2GS will in a few years operate one of the world’s largest electrolyzers in Boden in norther Sweden, with a capacity of over 700 MW. Leveraging the expertise from the preparatory work from that site, and in line with the company’s strategy to use green hydrogen to reduce emissions in hard to abate industries, H2GS now takes a step into a new field, namely green fuels for shipping.  

Together with Gotland Company, which develops, charters and operates passenger ferries, H2GS will perform a technical and economic feasibility study to evaluate the possibility to supply fossil free fuel in the form of green hydrogen to Gotland Company’s future ships.  

Gotland Company is developing two new ships that will be able to operate on hydrogen gas, the Horizon series. The goal is to have a minimum of one ship operational by 2030 the latest. The Horizon series will operate on gas turbines with so called multi fuel, which enables the ships to operate on several fossil free fuels. To operate the traffic between Gotland and the mainland on 100 percent hydrogen gas, approximately 20,000 tonnes of hydrogen gas will be required annually.  

“Our investment in the Horizon series is our most ambitious initiative to reduce the climate footprint from the shipping industry. The ships’ engines can operate on several fossil free fuels, but our goal is to run the ships on 100 percent hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas combined with the gas turbine enables us to maintain a high availability for our passengers, but also reach a climate-neutral service with water as the main emission. Since our ships will need a large amount of hydrogen gas, development of both production and infrastructure is essential. Therefore a collaboration like this is important to help us to reach our climate goals”, says Håkan Johansson CEO Gotland Company. 

“At H2GS, our purpose is to accelerate the decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries, and green hydrogen holds the key to true industrial transformation. Collaborating with Gotland Company signifies expanding our competence in large scale hydrogen production beyond iron and steel. Joining forces with a Swedish partner sharing our passion for climate change matters and acting as the front runner to reduce emissions in the important ecosystem in the waters around Sweden, naturally feels especially strong and relevant”, says Kajsa Ryttberg-Wallgren, Head of Hydrogen Business at H2 Green Steel. 

The feasibility-study is a first step towards being able to supply hydrogen as fuel to Gotland Company’s ships that operate the route between the island of Gotland and mainland Sweden. The feasibility-study includes identifying locations for both production and infrastructure to transport the hydrogen to the harbors. The electrolyzer capacity required is estimated at about 300 MW.

Link zur original Pressemeldung von Gotlandsbolaget (schwedisch).

Text & Bild ©: Gotlandsbolaget