Port of Hanstholm signs letter of intent with European Energy

At the Port of Hanstholm, there is a prospect of rich activity on the 130,000 m2 large area, which a large-scale expansion over recent years has added to the harbor. The goal is to transform most of the large area into a local energy community, Hanstholm Energifællskab.

The Port of Hanstholm and European Energy has the intention of forming a partnership, which will form the basis for an energy community at the port. The realization of the energy community will not only attract large investments and create life on the harbor's new hinterland area, but also create an energy community that is the first of its kind at a Danish fishing harbor.

Game changer for a green future

The aim of the letter of intent is to pave the way for the Port of Hanstholm to become Europe's greenest and first CO2-neutral fishing harbor. The project puts full focus on Power-to-X through a strong port symbiosis, where recycling of residual products from local industry turns into renewable energy.

- With the expansion of the Port of Hanstholm, we have the right capacity to kickstart an energy adventure that can support green conversion, attract billions of investments from green industries and create extra work for, among others, the many local service companies at Hanstholm Harbor and contractors throughout Thisted Municipality. In this way, we want to show how a fishing port can also be an energy port and create strong synergy between the fishing industry and green energy, says port director Nils Skeby.

The right knowledge is essential to realize the Port of Hanstholm's ambitious vision of becoming Europe's first CO2-neutral fishing port, and here, according to the port's chairman of the board, Kirsten Hede, European Energy is a good match.

- At the Port of Hanstholm, we work purposefully towards realizing a forward-looking energy community, which will make the harbor the first CO2-neutral fishing port in Europe. Therefore, it is essential to find a partner with the right experience to realize the port's ambitious energy plans, and we are therefore very much looking forward to working with European Energy, which has extensive experience in developing and constructing renewable energy plants.

Power-to-X and new forms of energy for the port

European Energy is engaged in the production, storage, and supply of renewable energy and with the letter of intent ready to enter a partnership with the Port of Hanstholm, where it wishes to establish a Power-to-X plant to produce hydrogen, an e-methanol plant based on local CO2 sources and additional renewable energy in the form of wind and solar energy.

- The Port of Hanstholm has launched a very ambitious energy vision, where we see great potential in becoming a partner for the realization of Hanstholm Energifællskab - and in this way not only contribute to developing renewable energy as a business area at the Port of Hanstholm, but also to delivery of the green energy forms of the future to the port's users, says CEO and founder of European Energy, Knud-Erik Andersen, and adds:

- We are in the process of identifying possible local CO2 sources in and around the Port of Hanstholm as suppliers for an e-methanol plant, which is a green alternative to the ships' current oil consumption. At the same time, we are looking at the construction of a hydrogen plant, which in addition to being another significant resource to produce e-methanol, also releases oxygen as a residual product, which can, for example, be a resource for fish farming in aquaculture at the port. In this way, we can revolutionize the port's industrial cluster and meet tomorrow's energy needs.

Potential that extends far beyond Hanstholm

The establishment of Hanstholm Energifælleskab is not only an important step for the development of the Port of Hanstholm, but for the whole of Thy and the national green transformation. According to Thisted Municipality's future mayor, Niels Jørgen Pedersen, this will make the Port of Hanstholm  a leading port for CO2-neutral port operations in Europe:

- Hanstholm Energifælleskab will create an energy community that propagates as a green echo to all the actors in and around the harbor who can either supply or consume central energy resources. This applies to sources such as CO2 and electricity, but also, among other things, oxygen and residual waste from, for example, the fishing industry and aquaculture facilities, says the future mayor.

- The Port of Hanstholm has the potential to become an example of how fishing and renewable energy can go hand in hand and create the business basis of the future that can serve as inspiration for other industrial clusters in, for example, ports - not only here in Denmark, but also in the rest of the world.