Equinor Energy AS awarded Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. a feasibility study contract to evaluate the possibilities for building a hydrogen production plant, including CO₂ capture and export facilities, in Eemshaven, the Netherlands.

The hydrogen will be supplied as fuel to an existing natural gas-fired power plant that will be converted into a hydrogen-fueled power plant designed to lower the plant’s carbon emissions at a large scale.

The award of the feasibility study follows a Memorandum of Understanding of Equinor, with its partners Vattenfall and Gasunie, to evaluate the possibilities of converting Vattenfall’s gas power plant Magnum in Eemshaven into a hydrogen-powered plant.

Building on Jacobs’ expertise in hydrogen, reformer technology and CO₂ capture, the study performed by Jacobs will focus on the objective of selecting the most effective reformer technology for hydrogen production together with a suitable CO₂ capture technology. Jacobs will also deliver the conceptual design of the plant as a basis for economic evaluation and further project definition.

In order to avoid CO₂ emissions from the hydrogen production process, up to three million tons per year of CO₂ will be captured and then liquefied for ease of transportation to Norway, where it will be injected and stored in an off-shore reservoir. The first of three Magnum plant units should be converted to run on natural gas by early 2024.