The EU Horizon project ROBINSON paves the way for continous success

NORCE was central in the initiation of the EU Horizon project ROBINSON which led to the installation of the 1MW hydrogen plant. The expansion of the factory will put Egersund Port on the map as an important hub for green shipping fuels.

- This is solid proof that ROBINSON has been of great importance for the development of sustainable energy solutions on industrialized islands, says Arild Stapnes Johnsen.

He is technical and innovation leader at Dalane Energy company on behalf of the consortium in Egersund which operates the newbuilt factory and which received the NOK 206 million funding. The owner of the factory is Kaupanes Hydrogen AS, owned by Dalane Energi, Eigersund Næring og Havn and Hydrogen Solutions AS.

Johnsen continues:

– No ROBINSON - No hydrogen plant! A big thank you to those who saw the ROBINSON project as an opportunity.

The EU Horizon financed project ROBINSON started in 2020 to develop and demonstrate an integrated energy concept on Eigerøy to decarbonize islands by being highly flexible and adaptable.

The modularity of the concept will allow for replicability on different (European) islands and support them towards the transition and decarbonization of their energy systems.

Eigerøy is the pilot islands in the project, with two follower islands being the Western Iles and Crete.

The region of Rogaland will with this expansion increase its economic importance and attractiveness, with this first hydrogen value chain in operation. The hydrogen chain in Norway is also important internationally, bringing Europe one step closer towards the achievement of its ambitious net-zero climate targets.

In October 2024, ENOVA funded in total five hydrogen production projects with a total volume of NOK 777 millions, including the Eigerøy factory. These five projects will become part of a network of hydrogen producers stretching from Slagentangen outside Tønsberg in the southeast, to Bodø in the north of Norway.

The ENOVA initiative aims at being a springboard for using hydrogen in Norwegian water based transport.

At Eigerøy the ENOVA funding will allow the expansion of the 1 MW plant installed within ROBINSON to a 21 MW hydrogen plant, pushing Egersund Port towards being one important hub for green fuel for ships.

The current 1 MW facility at Kaupanes delivers compressed hydrogen of fuel cell quality, stored in containers. These can be lifted directly onboard ships from the quay making refueling with hydrogen easier. The capacity of the new facility will be 7 600 tons annually. The upgraded facility is scheduled to be operational in 2027.

– These are pioneers leading the way for hydrogen and securing supply along the Norwegian coast. This will make hydrogen more accessible to those looking to invest in sustainable shipping, says Nils Kristian Nakstad, CEO of Enova, in their press release.

EU funded ROBINSON sparks major economic and transformation in Rogaland

– This new investment in Rogaland is a good example of how a project funded by EU can kick-start a local economic and energy transformation, says Sara Vinklatova, Strategic EU advisor at NORCE's International Unit.

Vinklatova had a key role in preparing ROBINSON for the EU application together with NORCEs Chief Scientist Peter Breuhaus. Breuhaus is happy and tells:

– It is exciting to see how the ROBINSON project initiates follow up activities and that the project is further speeding up the process towards decarbonization. I think that this speeding up of the transission is very necessary as maybe also confirmed by the newly published Energy Transition Outlook Norway 2024.

– Back in 2019 when ROBINSON was prepared to be submitted to the EU, who could have believed that, almost 6 years later, it would trigger such important investments in renewable technologies? says Vinklatova.

The story of the ROBINSON project

In 2020, the ROBINSON project was launched under Horizon 2020 as a collaboration between 18 partners from 10 countries.

The project’s aim was to decarbonise islands by developing an intelligent, flexible and modular Energy Management System, better integrating Renewable Energy Sources, creating industrial symbiosis and by optimising and validating other innovative technologies.

Out of the 18 partners 5 were from Norway: NORCE, Eigersund Næring og Havn KF, Prima Protein AS, Dalane Energi AS, and Energy Innovation AS.

ETN global from Belgium (Energy and Turbomachinery Network) is the official Project coordinator, NORCE with Peter Breuhaus holds the project’s Scientific coordination and LEITAT (Spain) covers the administrative and financial tasks.

Breuhaus says that the activities towards ROBINSON started quite early by an initiative of Energy Innovation and a workshop in Egersund on an energy concept for and the decarbonization of the Kaupanes on Eigerøy.

It was followed by a pre-project to evaluate possible concepts for an integrated energy system. The project was coordinated by Energy Innovation and executed by NORCE in close cooperation with the local stakeholders

–We then initiated the proposal with most of the partners of the pre-project and ETN global, LEITAT and NORCE as a core team contributing to the proposal writing. The proposal was accepted, resulting in the ROBINSON project.

The role of NORCE was:

• Scientific coordination
• Concept refinement
• Stakeholder involvement
• Support of the pilot installation

All developed components in ROBINSON were coupled and intelligently managed via an innovative energy management system.

The decarbonization was mostly related to reducing the use of LNG for fish feed production and in transport. However, the main aim of ROBINSON was to demonstrate the integrated energy system, its potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and how the full decarbonization can be achieved if it is further upscaled.

NORCE contributed with its knowhow and experience on thermal and electrical energy systems, as well as energy systems integration and stakeholder involvement skills (social science).

In 2025, while ROBINSON is coming to an end, the whole region has gone through a significant transformation and is committed to continue its pathway towards full decarbonisation.

– ROBINSON was a real success because the vast majority of the components was successfully installed and integrated in the system.

We demonstrated the system integration, developed a tool to evaluate the Live Cycle Impact during a conceptual development as well as a solid replication strategy.

Dalane Energi developed the new business connected to hydrogen (Kaupanes Hydrogen AS) which was not in their portfolio before ROBINSON.

They even installed a bigger electrolyser than planned, with the site prepared for further increase of the capacity. And they now got the support for it, says Breuhaus.

Also Egersund Næring & Havn sees the benefit of the integration and as a result there are more activities ongoing, including discussions on placing the Flex2Power prototype in this area, and getting involved in more EU financed projects. Plans for an onshore shrimp farm on Eigerøy are in the process of being executed, which will use the wasted heat (e.g. from the electrolyser and Prima) and most likely the Oxygen from the electrolyser.

Breuhaus explains that NORCE still works with the partners in Egersund.

Together with them we are aiming at continuing the decarbonization process and creating an energy centre. Egersund Næring & Havnt together with Dalane Energi got accepted support from Innovation Norway for a new project “Circular Kaupanes” in which NORCE is also going to be involved. It will start in January 2025.

– This financial support from ENOVA for activities building on the ROBINSON project shows how targeted and correctly anchored collaborative research funded by the EU can positively influence the development of Norwegian regions. As shown in this example, EU projects can bring new business opportunities, and contribute to decarbonisation of local industries, transport and homes, Vinklatova stresses.

A number of funding schemes are available under Horizon Europe, the biggest R&I funding programme in Europe and the successor of Horizon 2020. The programme is focusing on breakthrough scientific ideas, on global societal challenges and industrial competitiveness, and on development of disruptive innovation.