MOL Group opens 10 MW green hydrogen plant in Hungary

Hungarian multinational oil and gas company MOL Group has inaugurated a 10-megawatt (MW) capacity green hydrogen plant in Százhalombatta, Hungary, to reduce the carbon footprint of the Danube Refinery.

This €22 million investment will reduce the carbon footprint of the refinery by more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, MOL claimed, adding that the new technology will gradually replace the natural gas-based production process, which currently accounts for one sixth of the MOL Group’s total carbon dioxide emissions.

According to MOL, the plant will start producing in the second half of 2024 and the company will use the green hydrogen primarily in its own network for fuel production.

The facility will be able to produce approximately 1,600 tonnes of green hydrogen per year and will use a 10 MW electrolysis unit from U.S. Plug Power, MOL further said, noting: “Plug Power’s electrolysis equipment uses electricity from renewable sources to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen. This means that no polluting by-products are generated and, in fact, the plant produces 8-9 tonnes of pure oxygen per tonne of hydrogen.”

József Molnár, CEO of MOL Group, commented: “MOL Group has reached another milestone: we can now produce green hydrogen without producing any greenhouse gases. Using this technology, we are able to achieve the same emissions reduction as if we took roughly 5,500 cars off the road overnight.”

“Today, our new green hydrogen plant is only making MOL’s industrial operations greener, but tomorrow it will offer solutions for the whole industry and hydrogen mobility. After Száhalombatta, we will take the technology to the other two fuel production units of the group to make the fuel production process more sustainable at each of MOL Group’s refineries.”

Andy Marsh, Plug CEO, stated: “We are thrilled to celebrate, in partnership with MOL, the inauguration of one of Europe’s largest green hydrogen plants supporting a refinery… Together, we are advancing towards carbon neutrality, fostering greener operations, and propelling the hydrogen economy forward.”

To note, as per MOL, this investment is in line with the company’s SHAPE TOMORROW corporate strategy, which aims to make the region more sustainable, competitive and self-sufficient.