Offshore staff
RIJSWIJK, the Netherlands – Emerson is developing software and systems to support the PosHYdon offshore green hydrogen pilot project in the Dutch North Sea.
This involves integration of offshore wind power and offshore natural gas and hydrogen production from the Neptune Energy-operated Q13a-A platform.
The pilot will support studies on electrolyser efficiency from a variable power supply and the potential cost of installing and maintaining a green hydrogen production plant on an offshore platform.
Green electricity will be used to simulate fluctuating supply from wind turbines and to power the production process, which will convert sea water to demineralized water and then produce hydrogen via electrolysis.
The hydrogen will then be blended with the natural gas and transported to the coast, via an existing gas export pipeline, and transferred to the Netherlands’ gas grid. Neptune expects the 1-MW electrolyser to produce up to 3 t/week of hydrogen.
Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system, DeltaV safety instrumented system, and DeltaV Live operator interface software will manage the desalination and electrolyser units, gas blending and the balance of the plant equipment.
To help manage issues such as variable desalinated water feedstock and power supply, DeltaV software and systems will support safety, process uptime and operational efficiency, Emerson said, with the solution ensuring no impact on existing natural gas operations and that the blended gas meets its required specification.
Integration with the existing offshore systems and communication with onshore operations will also maximize process visibility and prevent unforeseen issues, the company added.
Other partners in the PosHYdon consortium are Nexstep, TNO, Gasunie, Noordgastransport, NOGAT, DEME Offshore, TAQA, Eneco, Nel Hydrogen, InVesta, Hatenboer, and Iv-Offshore & Energy.
The project has a €3.6-million ($4.1-million) grant from The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) under its Demonstration Energy and Climate Innovation scheme.
01/12/2022
