From 27 to 28 July, the Freeport of Ventspils Authority, as part of the Latvian Hydrogen Alliance delegation, visited the Groningen region in the north of the Netherlands to learn about the HEAVENN project of the first large-scale hydrogen valley in the world.
The Freeport of Ventspils and the Ventspils region have all the prerequisites for the creation of an integrated green hydrogen ecosystem, the so-called Hydrogen Valley. The visit provided an opportunity to learn about the experience of Groningen in setting up such an ecosystem - to understand the tasks to be done and how to bring together the different stages of the hydrogen value chain, starting from production and storage to delivery and end-use in transport sector, industry, etc.
During the visit, the delegation visited hydrogen filling station manufacturer “Resato”, public transport company “Qbuzz”, whose bus fleet includes 32 hydrogen-powered buses, Groningen Airport, which is developing its own local hydrogen valley, and Dutch natural gas transmission system operator Gasunie, one of the drivers of the Dutch hydrogen economy.
The delegation also had the opportunity to visit the port of Eemshaven, one of the leading ports in the offshore wind industry, and also a major energy hub - around a third of all energy produced in the Netherlands comes directly from Eemshaven, also thanks to a 1GW wind farm; and which is also currently implementing several hydrogen projects.
The visit was an excellent opportunity to see the Dutch approach to the development and deployment of hydrogen technologies, where there is clear progress in taking the first small steps and a vision for the future, at government, local government and business level.
The visit was organised with the support of the Latvian Hydrogen Alliance's cooperation partner "New Energy Coalition" and thanks to the support of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Latvia and the Embassy of Latvia in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Latvian delegation included representatives from Ventspils Freeport Authority, Riga Airport, Ventspils Port, Jelgava Bus Park, Liepāja Municipality, Liepāja Public Transport Agency, Baltic Hydrogen Group, PurpleGreen, “UEC Sistēmas” and GASO.