Australian energy company Woodside and data centre asset manager Keppel have signed a conditional offtake term sheet for the supply and purchase of liquid hydrogen, aimed at powering Keppel’s data centres in Singapore. This agreement outlines commercial principles that could lead to a binding offtake agreement for liquid hydrogen supply by 2030. The sources of liquid hydrogen would include Woodside’s proposed production facilities, such as H2Perth. The term sheet remains conditional upon, among other things, negotiation and execution of a sale and purchase agreement and obtaining approvals.

Keppel’s CEO of Data Centres, Wong Wai Meng, says that the offtake term sheet has the ability to provide a reliable and stable source of lower carbon energy to power the company’s assets in Singapore. Keppel intends for the potential liquid hydrogen supply to form part of a larger, long-term utility-scale lower carbon power portfolio that the business is building to power its assets.

In the Netherlands, RWE has secured construction and environmental permits to build a 100 MW electrolyser near the Magnum power station in Eemshaven in the north of the country. If built, the electrolyser will contribute to the onshore energy system integration plans associated with the 795 MW OranjeWind offshore wind project in the Dutch North Sea, which RWE is developing together with its 50:50 joint venture partner TotalEnergies.

Recently, TotalEnergies announced that it would dedicate its share of the renewable electricity production from OranjeWind to power 350 MW of electrolyser projects to produce green hydrogen for the decarbonisation of the company’s refineries in northern Europe. RWE is also working on the potential development of a 50 MW electrolyser at the nearby Eems power station. Both projects are subject to future final investment decisions (FID). A key condition for these is the timely availability of the necessary infrastructure, such as the national hydrogen backbone, to transport the green hydrogen to customers.

Meanwhile, to the north, Neste has decided to withdraw from investing in a 120 MW electrolyser project designed to produce renewable hydrogen at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. This decision follows the completion of the project’s basic engineering phase, which began in May 2023. Neste’s withdrawal is attributed to challenging market conditions and financial performance.  

The company also says: ‘Evaluation of this project has been impacted by the tight limitations on the use of renewable hydrogen in the refinery’s processes in fulfilling the Finnish national distribution obligation. These limitations prevent the full economic utilisation of [an] electrolyser of this size.’

Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President for Oil Products business unit at Neste, adds that the company would evaluate alternative pathways to secure renewable hydrogen in Porvoo.