Europe's biggest hydrogen electrolysis plant was launched by Shell in at the Wesseling site of its Rheinland refinery during July 2021. The Refhyne plant will produce green fuels and will have 10 MW capacity. The plant is located at the 140,000-b/d Wesseling refinery, part of the 325,000-b/d integrated Rheinland facility. The plant secured €10 million ($12 million) funding from the EU through the Fuel Cell Hydrogen Joint Undertaking initiative.
Further, second phase of the project- Refhyne II is also slated to start operations in 2024. Second phase to raise 10MW capacity to 100MW at advanced planning stage.
In addition, a plant for liquefied renewable natural gas (bio-LNG) is also in development.
Shell plans to emerge as a leading supplier of green hydrogen for industrial and transport customers in Germany. According to the company, the Rheinland electrolyser will use renewable electricity to produce up to 1,300 tonnes of green hydrogen a year.