Belgium's first major hydrogen collaboration

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For the first time in the country's history, a group of industry leading companies signed a commitment to support the development of hydrogen as an alternative fuel for transport. The signatories include Deme, Engie, Exmar, Fluxys, Ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge and WaterstofNet.

A joint study, forming the basis for a number of projects aimed at production, transport and storage of hydrogen, will be the first step of this cooperation effort.

Sufficient renewable energy production needs to be secured in order to make the chemical element industrially viable. However, Belgium currently does not have enough wind or solar power to produce it, meaning it will have to be imported. The seven aforementioned companies will lend their respective know-how to develop solutions for efficient import, transport and storage of hydrogen.

In the first phase the partners will carry out a joint analysis of the end-to-end chain of importation and transport of hydrogen. The objective is to map out the financial, technical and regulatory aspects of the various links in the supply chain, including production, loading/unloading and transport by sea and by pipeline. The results of the analysis will provide a roadmap showing the best way to carry hydrogen for the various applications in the energy and chemical sectors.

The analysis is expected to be ready by the end of 2020 or early 2021.