The offshore energy industry made it clear long ago that hydrogen will play an important role in the efforts to reach net-zero and achieve decarbonization targets. Many steps have been taken in this direction so far, but this week hydrogen made a grand entrance with the announcement that the world will be getting its first offshore green hydrogen cluster.
Vattenfall revealed in the middle of the week that it had submitted a bid in the Hollandse Kust West offshore wind tender in the Netherlands which proposes the development of the world’s first offshore green hydrogen cluster.
At the Hollandse Kust West (HKW) VII site, the Sweden-headquartered company wants to integrate a 45 MW hydrogen cluster into an offshore wind farm, with three turbines equipped with electrolysers.
The hydrogen produced by the cluster would be transported via a pipeline to the Port of Rotterdam and fed into the hydrogen network there. It will then be transported to users via a network of pipes – in the same way as with natural gas.
Just a day later it was reported that Shell subsidiaries had taken the final investment decision (FID) to build Holland Hydrogen I, set to become Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen plant once operational in 2025.
The aim of the project is to produce hydrogen using electricity that has been generated by the Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) offshore wind farm.
The 200 MW electrolyser will be constructed on the Tweede Maasvlakte in the Port of Rotterdam and will produce up to 60,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen per day, which will supply the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam via the HyTransPort pipeline, where it will replace some of the grey hydrogen usage in the refinery.
A number of hydrogen initiatives are coming from the shipping sector which aims to keep vessel pollution at a minimum and seeks ways to make shipping greener.
A consortium of Norway’s TECO 2030, Umoe Mandal and BLOM Maritime revealed that it is developing a hydrogen-powered high-speed vessel with zero emissions, which will combine fuel cell systems from TECO 2030 and an energy-efficient catamaran design with Surface Effect Ship (SES) technology from Umoe Mandal.
Going more south, Améthyste, ArianeGroup, Cetim, HDF Energy, Rubis Terminal and Sofresid Engineering teamed up to develop a multi-service power barge ELEMANTA H2, designed to supply green electricity and hydrogen to large ships.
The barge is expected to also enable hydrogen bunkering to meet the refueling needs of future hydrogen ships.
Furthermore, Vestas and Windcat Workboats are launching a pilot programme to explore how a hydrogen-powered crew transfer vessel (CTV) can help reduce carbon emissions from offshore service operations.
Worth mentioning, the UK had a milestone moment this week with the award of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) to renewable energy projects totalling almost 11 GW in capacity, representing the biggest ever round of the auction scheme so far.
This fourth CfD round had budget funding of £295 million per year and saw £210 million allocated to the pot supporting offshore wind projects, with £10 million for established technologies and £75 million for less-established technologies, including ringfenced funding of £24 million for floating offshore wind projects and £20 million for tidal stream projects.
The greatest capacity, almost 7 GW, has been awarded to five offshore wind projects , while the CfD scheme also saw the selection of first-ever tidal stream auction winners .
This year’s Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference , to be held on 29 and 30 November in Amsterdam, will have a Hydrogen Pavilion for the first time.
Check out the event and register below: