Ørsted is building a commercial production facility for carbon-neutral marine fuels, named FlagshipOne, in northeastern Sweden and at the heart of this will be a technology package from Siemens Energy. This will consist of four proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers with a total capacity of 70MW; plant-wide electrification and automation systems, including digitalization solutions such as digital twins; and the entire power distribution and compressor systems.
The plant, which is being constructed in Örnsköldsvik on the northeast Swedish coast, will be capable of producing up to 50,000 metric tons of e-methanol annually from renewable energy and biogenic carbon dioxide from 2025.
“Without hydrogen or alternative fuels such as e-methanol, there will be no energy transition,” said Anne-Laure de Chammard, member of the executive board for transformation of industry at Siemens Energy. “We need to ramp up these novel industries as quickly as possible, which in turn requires economically viable business models and private investment. Groundbreaking projects like this are important to finally move from talk to action.”
“At Ørsted, we want to create a world that runs entirely on green energy, and we believe that partnerships will be key to accelerate and develop the power-to-x solutions needed for the hard-to-electrify sectors,” added Anders Nordstrøm, COO of Ørsted P2X. “Siemens Energy is already a partner of Ørsted in our various renewable energy businesses, and I’m pleased that we now extend this longstanding partnership to power-to-x as well.”
Ørsted plans to use the FlagshipOne plant as a blueprint which can then be scaled and replicated at other sites in Sweden and additional locations. The standardization approach was created by Liquid Wind, the original developer of FlagshipOne.
An additional stage in the synthesis process brings in biogenic carbon dioxide from a nearby biomass-fired combined heat and power station. The resulting e-methanol is a CO2 -neutral electrofuel which is simple to store and transport. The e-methanol will be used in dual-fuel ship engines on its own or as an admixture to conventional fuels to aid in the decarbonization of the maritime transportation sector.
Liquid Wind is already developing a second plant, FlagshipTwo, which will be able to supply 100,000 metric tons of e-methanol to the maritime market using a 140MW capacity electrolyzer.