Antwerp-Bruges port joins Germany's H2Global hydrogen initiative

The Antwerp-Bruges port in Belgium has joined the H2Global Foundation, a German initiative meant to support the market ramp-up of green hydrogen.

The participation of the country's largest port in the H2Global initiative is important as Belgium will have to rely on imports to meet its needs for green hydrogen for the decarbonisation of industry and heavy transport, said Flemish Minister Jo Brouns.

The H2Global Foundation, created a year ago to promote the ramp-up of a green hydrogen economy, represents an auction-based mechanism that will enable the import of green hydrogen or other power-to-X products under long-term contracts and their sale in Germany and Europe through auctions. Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) will provide EUR 900 million (USD 903.78m) for the programme to bridge the gap between the purchase price and the domestic sales price for the green hydrogen.

Companies already participating in the initiative include Siemens Energy Global GmbH, Thyssenkrupp AG (ETR:TKA), Deutsche Bank AG (ETR:DBK) and Uniper SE (ETR:UN01).

The port of Anwerp-Bruges, Europe's second-largest seaport and home to a large chemical cluster, already supports projects for the production, transport and storage of hydrogen as part of the Hydrogen Import Coalition. The port is also expected to play a vital role in the local production of green hydrogen which is set to begin in 2023 with a ramp-up through 2025-2027 for large volumes of green molecules coming in from overseas.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.004)

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