In the Dutch portion of the North Sea, Danish Ramboll will look into the viability of manufacturing hydrogen on an offshore scale with NortH2.
Eneco, RWE, Equinor, and Shell are members of the NortH2 consortium, which is working with Gasunie to examine how the development of all facets of the hydrogen value chain, from production to transport and storage, may be coordinated.
The goal is to build a multi-gigawatt wind farm in the North Sea that is connected to an onshore hydrogen facility, from which the hydrogen will be transported to industrial clusters in the Netherlands and Northern Europe via the European hydrogen backbone.
A combined installed capacity of 10 GW for onshore and offshore electrolysis is the goal by 2040. As a result, up to 0.75 million tonnes of green hydrogen might be produced annually.
The partnership is looking into the viability of producing hydrogen offshore in addition to its plans for the on-site electrolysis facility and has hired Ramboll to design and outline workable possibilities.
Ramboll will research practical wind farm designs, electrolyzer technology, and hydrogen transportation methods. Ramboll will conduct a market analysis, a business case, a levelized cost of hydrogen calculation, and an environmental impact evaluation for each idea.
The feasibility study’s results, which will serve as the backdrop for offshore hydrogen production in the Dutch North Sea in 2030–2035, will be released in January 2023.