Scottish Development International and J-DeEP are collaborating to build a floating offshore hydrogen generation facility off the Scottish coast.
According to research, the combination of large-scale offshore renewable energy with floating hydrogen production could become economically viable over the next several years, depending on the project structure.
ClassNK, a Japanese ship classification society, has granted an approval in principle (AiP) for the development of a floating offshore hydrogen plant off the coast of Scotland by the Japan Offshore Design and Engineering Platform Technology and Engineering Research Association (J-DeEP).
The hydrogen platform will be powered by wind turbine surplus energy. It will incorporate a saltwater desalination system and a device for electrolysis-based hydrogen extraction from water. The initiative is being developed in collaboration with the Scottish government’s international arm and Scottish Development International, which assisted J-DeEP with the feasibility assessment.
According to a new study from Ireland’s University College Cork, the combination of high-capacity floating offshore wind with green hydrogen generation could represent a significant opportunity to further decarbonize the energy sector. The researchers developed three project typologies based on electrolyzer technologies, floating wind platforms, and energy transfer. Offshore systems based on centralized onshore electrolysis, decentralized offshore electrolysis, and centralized offshore electrolysis are included in the typologies.
They discovered that centralized system design is less difficult than decentralized system design due to the availability of more cost-effective solutions for some components.
