This year’s edition will be held online and will have a strong Rotterdam flavour. The Sustainable Energy Council is organising the summit in partnership with the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the Municipality of Rotterdam. Rotterdam intends to develop its port into Europe’s largest hydrogen hub: a leading centre for the large-scale production, import, throughput and consumption of hydrogen. The programme will also deal with a number of local projects in Rotterdam, and Allard Castelein will deliver a keynote speech with a specific focus on the import of hydrogen.

The Port Authority is working together with partners on the realisation of new plants for the production of green hydrogen (based on electrolysis) and blue hydrogen as well as a pipeline for the transport of hydrogen through the port complex. In addition, it is promoting the import and throughput of hydrogen and the utilisation of this energy carrier in road transport and inland shipping. Projects like these will help establish Rotterdam as an international hydrogen hub. Together, the initiatives are intended to ensure that Rotterdam remains Northwest Europe’s leading energy port for decades to come.

Hydrogen is steadily becoming more important. It can be used for a wide array of applications. Besides replacing natural gas as a means to generate heat in process industry, hydrogen is also a new building block in the chemical industry’s transition towards the sustainable manufacture of products and an increasingly popular transport fuel. Rotterdam can benefit a great deal from its position as international hydrogen hub. The large-scale adoption of hydrogen as an energy carrier will enable industry to drastically reduce its carbon emissions. And as a hydrogen hub, the port can continue to pave the way in the international market, generate new employment and serve as an important driver of the Dutch economy.