On Thursday, it was announced that the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, an initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs to encourage Dutch entrepreneurs in sustainable, agricultural, innovative and globally oriented businesses, has granted a EUR 3.6 million (about $4.3 million) to the PosHYdon project. PosHYdon, in the Dutch North Sea, is the world’s first offshore green hydrogen pilot on a working platform.
Along with the Dutch government, the project is being co-funded by a consortium of major European energy companies and other entities, including Nel Hydrogen, InVesta, Hatenboer, IV-Offshore & Energy and Emerson Automation Solutions. Nexstep, TNO , Neptune Energy, Gasunie, Noordgastransport, NOGAT, DEME Offshore, TAQA and Eneco.
“PosHYdon is the ultimate example of system integration in the North Sea,” said René Peters, Business Director of Gas Technologies at the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), who also spearheaded the North Sea Energy Program. “In many studies, hydrogen is considered the missing link in the energy transition, with many talking about…the opportunities. But here, right off the coast of Scheveningen [the Hague], it will actually take place.
“PosHYdon will teach us a lot about the next steps that need to be taken towards safe, large-scale green hydrogen production at sea. Offshore green hydrogen production will enable large-scale wind farms to be developed far out at sea. Wind energy is then directly converted to green hydrogen and can be transported through the existing gas infrastructure. As a result, offshore wind projects can be realized faster at significantly lower costs for society,” Peters added.
The project is seeking to validate the integration of three energy systems in the Dutch North Sea: offshore wind, offshore gas and offshore hydrogen and will involve the installation of hydrogen-producing plant on Neptune Energy’s Q13a-A platform. The Q13a-A is the first fully electrified platform in the Dutch North Sea, located approximately 13 kilometers off the coast of The Hague.
Electricity generated by offshore wind turbines will be used to power the hydrogen plant on the Q13a-A platform, converting seawater into demineralized water, then into hydrogen via electrolysis. The resulting green hydrogen will then be mixed with gas and transported via an existing gas pipeline to the coast. The 1 MW electrolyzer will produce a maximum of 400 kilograms of green hydrogen per day.
New energy hub
“The Dutch North Sea sector has an exciting future as a ‘new energy hub’ and can play a leading role in large-scale green hydrogen production for northwestern Europe, given its infrastructure that connects offshore with onshore,” said Lex de Groot, Managing Director for the Netherlands at Neptune Energy, one of Europe’s largest energy exploration and production (E&P) companies and a member of the PosHYdon consortium. “The integration of energy systems supports net zero goals in a smart, efficient, and cost-effective manner and without disturbing existing sea ecosystems.
“The extensive infrastructure network is connected to international grids and can easily accommodate wind farms further out at sea by converting the production of green electricity into green hydrogen and transporting it to the grid onshore. PosHYdon will be the key to making this happen and we are excited to consider future opportunities that the pilot can help unlock,” de Groot added.
