Energy Transition and the Port of Rotterdam. A Disruptive Circular Economy Opportunity?

The port of Rotterdam has been intertwined with the petrochemical industry for over a century. However, we are confronted today with the urgent necessity of transitioning away from fossil fuels and powering our energy and production systems with renewables. The Port of Rotterdam has a long-standing experience with hydrogen and as hydrogen can be the carrier of a circular energy transition, this is an opportunity for Rotterdam to become a major hub for the upcoming green hydrogen economy. Hydrogen can also be a disruptive circular economy technology and therefore an opportunity for facilitating a circular economy. There is no question about the main source of renewable energy: sun and wind deliver during one hour more energy than we need to power our societies worldwide for a year. Differences in availability in time and location, however, require means of storing the renewable energy harvested in sun and wind rich areas. Green hydrogen is one of the preferred candidates as an energy carrier because it is financially and logistically impossible to enlarge the electricity infrastructure to substitute the capacity of our natural gas infrastructure. Rotterdam can be an important hydrogen hub for Europe by reusing and upgrading its natural gas infrastructure, thereby contributing to the necessary transition towards a totally carbon free energy infrastructure in Europe.