Nobian, with an establishment in Delfzijl, and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) are joining forces to form a leading industrial green hydrogen player, the Hydrogen Chemistry Company (HyCC). HyCC will provide safe, reliable, and affordable green hydrogen solutions to help decarbonize large industries such as aviation, steel, chemicals and refineries.

Through this partnership, the companies are taking a unique step by creating a company that is specialized in water electrolysis to produce green hydrogen from renewable power at an industrial scale. With Nobian’s experience in large-scale electrolysis and GIG’s resources and project development experience, HyCC will be able to accelerate investments and the development of more large-scale projects.

HyCC will launch with a purpose-built team of hydrogen specialist spanning expertise across technology, manufacturing, project management and commercial development as well as a pipeline of more than 400 megawatt of electrolysis projects. This includes a planned 60 megawatt facility in the north of the Netherlands to supply green hydrogen for renewable methanol and aviation fuels, a 100 megawatt project near Amsterdam to enable sustainable steel production, and a 250 megawatt project in Rotterdam to replace fossil-based hydrogen. The deal will allow HyCC to grow this pipeline and expand further into the European market.

Kate Vidgen, Head of Industrial Transition and Clean Fuels at Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, said: “Green hydrogen is vital to reduce emissions in a wide range of industries that are traditionally difficult to decarbonize – from steel and chemicals to shipping and aviation. We expect a rapid acceleration in the energy transition and are excited to invest alongside an experienced business in this field, to accelerate its development and help industries become more sustainable.”

Michael Koenig, CEO of Nobian: “We are truly excited about this unique step for both Nobian and GIG. With our leading and long-standing expertise in large scale electrochemistry we are able to invest in an exciting and developing hydrogen market. Through this we will contribute to lower CO2 emissions and sustainable economic growth, whilst also driving value creation.”

Marcel Galjee, Managing Director of HyCC: “We have a strong technical and commercial team and a healthy pipeline of large green hydrogen projects. The backing of these two leading companies allows us to further scale-up our portfolio to become a leader in the safe and reliable supply of green hydrogen and make a critical contribution to the EU’s target of realizing 40 gigawatt of hydrogen electrolyzers by 2030”.

GIG and Nobian will each have a 50% share in HyCC, and the deal is expected to close in March 2022 (subject to regulatory approvals).

Green hydrogen is made by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen with electricity from renewable sources, in a process called water electrolysis. Producing or burning green hydrogen does not result in any carbon emissions and the hydrogen can be used to replace fossil fuels or for new circular forms of production. For example, it can be combined with CO and CO2from industrial processes to make fuels and raw materials for the chemical industry.

GIG has already announced hydrogen partnerships in a number of different geographies with a focus on supporting the industrial transition and the move to cleaner fuels. Nobian already operates multiple large-scales electrolysis facilities in the Netherlands and Germany for the production of chlor-alkali, using a technology similar to that of water electrolysis.