FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell in Germany aims to produce aviation fuel and naphtha made from crops and to increase to commercial scale an electrolysis plant that makes fossil-free hydrogen, as it seek to move away from crude oil.
The energy major told an online conference on Friday it had applied for subsidies to carry out the work from the European Union and from German funds earmarked for decarbonisation. It did not give detail on the expected cost.
The global Shell group has set itself a goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
At Wesseling, part of the Rheinland refinery complex, it plans to use green electricity to produce synthetic, carbon-free, power-to-liquids (ptl) to replace its conventional jet fuel and naphtha output, building a ptl plant from 2023 and starting production in 2025.
The ptl plant can also use wood as biomass input.
Hydrogen is also considered a green fuel when electricity from renewable energy is used in its production.
Shell said last September it will set up offshore wind farms to provide power and on Friday it said it could also start building a 100 MW electrolysis plant, to be called Refhyne II, from 2022, scaling up from a 10 megawatt plant.
“The product portfolio of the location clearly must change,” said Fabian Ziegler, head of Shell Deutschland.
To further the shift to clean transport in Germany, Shell also plans to equip petrol filling stations with electric car charging points.
Shell is already the owner of German solar battery maker sonnen. On Thursday, it said it has agreed to buy Cologne-based virtual power plant (VPP) operator Next Kraftwerke, Germany’s biggest VPP.
Next aggregates wind and biogas power production and markets it in balancing markets, which can help offset the unpredictable flows associated with renewable output.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Barbara Lewis)
