Vattenfall Exploring Low-Carbon Hydrogen Production At Ringhals
Vattenfall (ENS Corporate Member) has decided to start a new project to produce clean hydrogen using electricity generated from offshore wind and nuclear.
The Swedish company said it has received permission from the national grid regulator Svenska kraftnät to proceed with the deployment of the 1.2 GW Kattegatt Syd offshore wind farm, but also to start a preliminary assessment of the option to connect electricity generated from Ringhals nuclear power plant, located on the Värö Peninsula.
Vattenfall said it will be looking to maximise the use of wind energy and nuclear energy for the flexible production of clean hydrogen, which is largely demanded by different industrial sectors on the Swedish west coast.
There are good conditions for building electrolysers at Ringhals and creating a very flexible production facility for both fossil-free electricity and hydrogen
said Andreas Regnell, head of strategy at Vattenfall.
The national grid regulator’s permission also boosts the feasibility study on small modular reactors (SMRs) deployment at Ringhals that Vattenfall started last year.
Ringhals is considered to be a suitable location for SMRs, which could then produce both low-carbon electricity and hydrogen.
SMRs in Ringhals could replace two shutdown reactors within the existing legislation, and there is already grid infrastructure in place that makes connecting new electricity generation simpler, Vattenfall explained.