Air Liquide invests in the first world-scale oxygen production plant fit to accommodate renewable energy in the grid

Paris, France, July 23, 2020

Air Liquide announces an investment of 125 million euros to build the first world-scale Air Separation Unit (ASU) for oxygen production with an energy storage system that helps facilitate more renewable energy on the electricity grid due to its grid stabilizing capability. This highly efficient plant, with circa 10% less electricity consumption, will have a production capacity of 2,200 tons of oxygen per day, and will be built in Port of Moerdijk in the Netherlands. This project illustrates Air Liquide’s strategy to grow in strategic industrial basins, and the Group’s ability to design and implement innovative solutions contributing to the energy transition, in line with its Climate Objectives.

The new ASU is designed to be built with the proprietary solution Alive™, an innovation that enables for more flexible units to combine customers’ needs and support transition to renewable energy. The system allows the storage of up to 40 MWh of energy, which corresponds to daily consumption of 4,000 households, enabling flexibility of the energy intake from the grid. While keeping a constant production for customers, it can accommodate the intermittency of renewable energy thus contributing to the growth of power coming from the wind and solar on the electricity grid. The ASU is planned to be operational in 2022.

The new Air Separation Unit will produce oxygen, nitrogen, and argon for industrial, food, and medical markets. It will be connected to Air Liquide’s extensive pipeline network, providing customers with a safe, flexible, and reliable supply to meet their growing demand. The strategic location of Moerdijk will enable to decrease bulk truck deliveries by an estimated 400,000km driven per year, contributing to a lower environmental footprint.

François Jackow, Executive Vice President and a member of the Air Liquide group’s Executive Committee, said:

« Fighting climate change is central to the mission of Air Liquide and we are developing a wide range of solutions. This investment in a strategic industrial basin, with a first-of-its kind innovation, illustrates our capacity to modernize industry with solutions to support a renewable energy compatible grid. In line with our Climate Objectives, we are committed to lower carbon footprint on our own assets as well as customers’ and demonstrate our contribution to the emergence of a low carbon society.»

Air Liquide in the Benelux

Air Liquide in Benelux comprises subsidiaries active in the production, distribution, and sale of industrial and medical gases, technologies and services of the Air Liquide group through three of its sectors of activity: Large Industries, Industrial Merchant and Electronics. Founded in Belgium in 1906 and in the Netherlands in 1913 and in Luxembourg in 1931, Air Liquide currently operates 27 industrial sites throughout the Benelux. The Group currently employs approximately 1,200 people in this region, all activities taken together, and it supplies more than 65,000 customers and patients. Air Liquide in Benelux also operates the largest pipeline network in Europe, stretching 2,250 kilometers, which supplies the industrial basins from Mons to Rotterdam.