Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and Tree Energy Solutions (TES) have agreed to develop the world’s largest green hydrogen integrated project to help Europe mitigate its current energy and climate crisis and to bring green molecules to Europe.
The partnership will see the companies work collaboratively to address the significant dual challenges of energy security and energy transition. Together, FFI and TES will develop industrial-scale green hydrogen production globally with an initial focus on Australia, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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Further they will combine FFI’s market leading expertise in developing large scale renewable energy production, with TES’s unique sustainable business model and access to the European green hydrogen market.
To provide immediate energy security for Europe, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection recently selected TES to jointly develop and implement Germany’s fifth Floating Storage Regasification Unit in Wilhelmshaven. In parallel, the TES terminal will serve as the primary entry point for clean, safe, affordable and abundant energy in Europe, as well as a catalyst for a circular carbon economy. TES will import green hydrogen in the form of renewable natural gas, which is economical, easy to transport and store, as it can leverage existing global energy infrastructure along the value chain. The CO2 will serve as a carrier: when the gas reaches Germany, it will be captured and transported back to the supply location, where the hydrogen is produced, in a circular, closed-loop zero-carbon system.
This new collaboration with FFI demonstrates TES’ commitment to make its contribution to the global energy transition by accelerating the import and production of green molecules as a lower cost alternative to today’s fossil fuels. TES offers a unique model to convert large amounts of renewable electrons from sunny and windy locations into the most affordable renewable gas.
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Fortescue Future Industries founder Dr Andrew Forrest said, “The UK and Europe urgently need green energy solutions to replace fossil fuels. This important investment will help to do exactly that. Not in 2050, in four years from now.”
FFI CEO Mark Hutchinson said, “This investment supports the delivery of Fortescue’s supply agreement with E.ON, Germany’s largest energy distributor. In March this year we announced we would supply 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen to Germany, commencing from mid-decade.”