The announcement comes shortly after a contract was signed that will see Nel provide the renewable energy supplier with 40MW of alkaline electrolyser equipment.

Statkraft has the ambition to accelerate its annual renewable power development to 4GW and add 2GW of renewable hydrogen production by 2030. Statkraft CEO, Christian Rynning-Tønnesen believes the new partnership will play a vital role in realising those ambitions.

Rynning-Tønnesen said, “The contract with Nel is the first important step in materialising our ambitious target of 2GW of green hydrogen and securing production capacity for our diverse pipeline of hydrogen projects.”

Håkon Volldal, CEO of Nel commented, “Statkraft is Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy and a well reputed and highly knowledgeable renewable energy company with an ambitious growth agenda. We are extremely proud that they have elected us as a supplier of green hydrogen technology.”

On Thursday (January 5), Norway and Germany agreed to strengthen their hydrogen partnership, with the intention of accelerating the development of a hydrogen market and value chain.

Read more: Germany and Norway strengthen hydrogen ties, plans for large-scale hydrogen pipeline

Under the renewed commitments, Norway is looking to become a key exporter of the energy carrier to Germany, initially planning to build blue hydrogen production capacity, before seeing green hydrogen phased into exports.

Supporting the move from Nel and Statkraft, Terje Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, said, “It is encouraging that leading Norwegian players such as Nel and Statkraft are planning value chains for green hydrogen in Norway.

“This is an important step in the right direction to achieve our ambitions to build a coherent value chain for hydrogen and facilitate the production of hydrogen with no or low emissions to cover the national demand for hydrogen.”