Offshore staff
LONDON – Eneco has joined the partners in the PosHYdon pilot in the Dutch North Sea, said to be the world’s first offshore green hydrogen project.
The company will contribute simulated wind data from its Luchterduinen wind farm, 23 km (14 mi) offshore Zandvoort / Noordwijk and 25 km (15.5 mi) north of the Neptune Energy-operated Q13a platform offshore wind farm, to support PosHYdon, which is designed to integrate three energy systems in the North Sea: offshore wind, offshore gas, and offshore hydrogen.
The data will support modeling of the use of electricity generated by the wind farm to power the electrolysis process on the platform, using sea water. Sea water will be de-mineralized on the platform in order to produce hydrogen.
Lex de Groot, managing director of Neptune Energy in the Netherlands, said Eneco’s participation would provide realistic data for the pilot: “The goal is to obtain valuable lessons for successfully integrating offshore energy systems to support the acceleration of the energy transition, and the Dutch North Sea is ideally suited for this.
“The ability to convert energy from wind farms to hydrogen, then transport it via the existing gas infrastructure offers major advantages, particularly for those wind farms located much further offshore.”
Ruben Dijkstra, Eneco’s director Offshore Wind, added: “With the possibilities of offshore wind and the enormous potential that the North Sea still offers, hydrogen production in the North Sea is an important element in the energy transition.
“Eneco gladly supports the steps being taken in this direction with the PosHYdon pilot. In addition to the technical aspect of offshore electrolysis, Eneco also has a strong interest in developing green hydrogen certificates and adding hydrogen to the natural gas network.”
There will be no direct connection between the wind turbines and the platform for the pilot. Q13a is the first fully electrified platform in the Dutch North Sea, 13 km (8 mi) offshore Scheveningen, close to The Hague.
PosHYdon is an initiative of Nexstep, the Dutch association for decommissioning and reuse, and TNO, the Netherlands organization for applied scientific research, in close collaboration with the industry. Gasunie, Noordgastransport, and NOGAT are other partners.
04/29/2020
