ABOUT
SUSTAINABILITY

The coming years will see many changes in the field of sustainability in aviation. So too at Groningen Airport Eelde. NXT Airport is the testing ground and demonstration location at Groningen Airport Eelde, where the business community, government, education and the aviation sector work together to make aviation more sustainable, with the aim of becoming the most sustainable airport óin the field of hydrogen in Europe by 2030.

Within the focus area of sustainability, work is mainly done on setting up a hydrogen infrastructure. A precondition for sustainable flying, as well as for sustainable ground handling, is the supply of sustainable fuels at the airport. The focus here is on hydrogen; GAE is ‘Hydrogen Valley Airport’. This includes projects such as emission-free handling of aviation processes, construction of a hydrogen filling station and the realisation of an electrolyser for the production of green hydrogen at the airport. Besides hydrogen, the focus is naturally on the application of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) such as biofuels and biokerosene at the airport and NXT will work on other green energy applications.

In addition, NXT Airport will, for example, work on landside and airside charging facilities for electric vehicles and NXT will advise and assist the airport-based companies in their sustainability process.

Hydrogen Valley Aiport

Within NXT Airport, it is working with New Energy Coalition, the University of Groningen, Holthausen Group, GroenLeven and HTC on hydrogen applications at the airport. With Groningen Airport Eelde, NXT Airport is one of the drivers of the Northern hydrogen economy from 2021.

Groningen Airport Eelde is ‘Hydrogen Valley Airport’.

Project WAviatER

The industrial hydrogen ecosystem in the northern Netherlands is getting a major boost, building on the foundation of Europe’s first Hydrogen Valley. That is what the WAviatER project: WAterstof production technology for the Aviation sector and Energy applications on a regional level, will ensure. The North Netherlands Cooperation Agency has awarded a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). In the project, a Northern Dutch consortium will develop green hydrogen technology. Consortium partners are Douna Machinery Leeuwarden, JB Besturingstechniek, REDStack, Demcon, Groningen Airport Eelde, New Energy Coalition and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, supported by TNO and VONK.

The first concrete application is at Groningen Airport Eelde, the ‘Hydrogen Valley Airport’. There, an electrolyzer to be developed will produce green hydrogen as an emission-free energy carrier for light aircraft, drones and ground equipment.