Shell sets out to build Brazil’s first hydrogen plant

Oil supermajor Shell is developing a hydrogen plant in Brazil’s Porto do Açu to near Rio de Janeiro.

The hydrogen plant will initially have a 10 megawatt (MW) capacity electrolyser to produce hydrogen with mostly renewable electricity from Brazil’s national grid.

Açu is home to the biggest thermoelectric power park in Latin America and says it promotes lower-carbon projects. It is also a major port for iron ore and oil exports.

Shell and Açu expect production to start in 2025, and for capacity to be ramped up and possibly reach 100 MW after that.

“Our purpose with this pilot is to foster the development of an entire value chain of renewable hydrogen generation, from technology suppliers, going through the mastery of plant operation, to the training of skilled labor,” Shell Brazil president André Araujo said.

Some of the hydrogen will be stored and eventually shipped to customers. The rest will be fed into an ammonia production plant.

Shell also has hydrogen projects in Germany, China and the Netherlands.

Its plant in Rhineland, Germany started production in July last year. Like the upcoming Porto do Açu plant, it also has a 10 MW electrolysis capacity that could be scaled to 100 MW in coming years. It produces around 1,300 mt/year of hydrogen.

Its Zhangjiakou plant in China started production in January this year. It has a bigger 20 MW capacity electrolyser.

An upcoming 200 MW capacity plant in Rotterdam is set to become one of the world’s biggest when it is due to start production in 2024.