Norway – TECO 2030 plans to establish Norway’s first large-scale production of hydrogen-based fuel cells in Narvik in Northern Norway. Fuel cells enable ships and other heavy-duty applications to switch from fossil fuels such as heavy oil and diesel to climate-friendly hydrogen, and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry.
Fuel cells convert hydrogen into electricity with water vapor and hot air as the only emissions. TECO 2030 develops fuel cells for heavy transport, primarily shipping, and these will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships.
‘We plan to establish a combined innovation center and factory in Narvik. The plant will be able to produce fuel cells with a capacity of more than one gigawatt per year, equivalent to several billion NOK of annual turnover’, said Tore Enger, CEO of TECO 2030 ASA.
The plan calls for a gradual increase of the plant’s capacity. Work on the site is planned to start in 2021, and the first production is expected next year. Total investments of up to NOK 1 billion are expected over a ten-year period. The development of the technology is done in collaboration with the Austrian technology company AVL, which will also contribute to the planning and construction of the proposed facility.
Evaluated various locations
TECO 2030 ASA has considered a number of different potential locations for the giga factory and had initially planned to build the factory in Eastern Norway. However, Narvik turned out to be the best option, and the factory will be established in a facility that previously was home to a plant operated by solar company REC.
Green shipping
TECO 2030 ASA focuses on one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time: How can we combine ever-increasing shipping volumes with reduced emissions? The company’s vision is emissions free shipping, and hydrogen-based fuel cells will be key, especially when it comes to applications where batteries will be too heavy.
An example is the project Green Hydrogen @ Blue Danube, where hydrogen will be produced from solar and wind in Romania and transported on barges along the Danube river to industrial buyers in Austria and Germany. TECO 2030 ASA is a partner in the project and will supply fuel cells for the hydrogen-powered tugboats that will take the barges along the Danube.
