North Sea green hydrogen pilot secures support from Dutch government

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has granted a subsidy to the PosHYdon project in the Dutch North Sea, said to be the world’s first offshore green hydrogen pilot on a working platform.

RVO’s award comes under its Demonstration Energy and climate Innovation (DEI+) scheme, which invites applications for funds in renewable energy developments, including hydrogen pilots.

Trials of the PosHYdon pilot, to be hosted on the Neptune Energy-operated Q13a-A platform, are designed to prove the feasibility of integrating offshore wind, offshore gas, and offshore hydrogen.

They will involve installation of a green hydrogen-producing plant on Q13a-A which will convert seawater into demineralised water, then into green hydrogen via electrolysis, for subsequent blending with natural gas and transportation to shore via an existing pipeline.

Lex de Groot, Neptune’s managing director for the Netherlands, said: “PosHYdon will provide the insights necessary to develop large scale green hydrogen production at sea.

“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 north-western Europe, given its infrastructure that connects offshore with onshore…

“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.”

Q13a-A, 13 km (8.1 miles) from the coast of Scheveningen, was the first fully-electrified platform in the Dutch North Sea. Other partners are EBN and TAQA Offshore.

Source: Offshore Magazine