By Siemens Gamesa and Siemens Energy are merging their ongoing wind-to-hydrogen technologies to resolve one of the biggest problems of our decade – decarbonizing the economy to overcome the climate crisis.
In their inventions, the firms are leading to a creative approach that completely incorporates an electrolyzer into an offshore wind turbine as a single coordinated device that directly extracts renewable hydrogen. The businesses plan to have a full-scale offshore solution demonstration by 2025/2026. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has announced that inventions will be applied as part of the “Hydrogen Republic of Germany” competition.
“Our more than 30 years of experience and leadership in the offshore wind industry, coupled with Siemens Energy’s expertise in electrolyzers, brings together brilliant minds and cutting-edge technologies to address the climate crisis. Our wind turbines play a huge role in the decarbonization of the global energy system, and the potential of wind to hydrogen means that we can do this for hard-to-abate industries too. It makes me very proud that our people are a part of shaping a greener future.”
Andreas Nauen, Siemens Gamesa CEO.
“Together with Siemens Gamesa, we are in a unique position to develop this game changing solution. We are the company that can leverage its highly flexible electrolyzer technology and create and redefine the future of sustainable offshore energy production. With these developments, the potential of regions with abundant offshore wind will become accessible for the hydrogen economy. It is a prime example of enabling us to store and transport wind energy, thus reducing the carbon footprint of economy.”
Christian Bruch, CEO of Siemens Energy.
Siemens Gamesa aims to spend €80 million over a five-year cycle and Siemens Energy is planning to invest €40 million in growth. Siemens Gamesa will adapt the production of the world’s most powerful turbine, the SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbine, to incorporate the electrolysis system seamlessly into turbine operations. By exploiting the nuanced expertise and experience with offshore wind from Siemens Gamesa, electrical losses are reduced to a minimum, while a compact approach guarantees a safe and effective installation of a flexible offshore wind-to-hydrogen solution.
Siemens Energy will produce a new electrolysis product that will not only satisfy the needs of the rugged offshore marine world and be in great harmony with the wind turbine, but will also create a new competitive benchmark for green hydrogen.
The ultimate fully integrated offshore wind-to-hydrogen system will produce green hydrogen using an electrolyzing array installed at the base of the offshore wind turbine platform, paving the way for offshore hydrogen output. The alternative would reduce the cost of hydrogen by being able to operate off the grid, opening up more and better wind sites.
The company’s inventions will act as a test bed for the realization of large-scale, cost-efficient hydrogen generation and will show the feasibility of the reliable and successful deployment of wind turbines in renewable-energy hydrogen production systems.
The developments are part of the H2Mare initiative which is a lighthouse project likely to be supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research ideas competition “Hydrogen Republic of Germany”. The H2mare initiative under the consortium lead of Siemens Energy is a modular project consisting of multiple sub-projects to which more than 30 partners from industry, institutes and academia are contributing. Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa will contribute to the H2Mare initiative with their own developments in separate modular building blocks.
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