Offshore staff
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Vattenfall and St1 will jointly perform a study on the potential production of electrofuel (e-Fuel) from offshore wind.
Operations could start in 2029.
Vattenfall is seeking to develop offshore wind power-based hydrogen supply infrastructure on Sweden’s west coast, while St1 plans to produce 1 MMcu. m of fuel from the hydrogen, primarily for aviation.
In southern Ireland, Cork-based Simply Blue Group is looking to harness energy from its pipeline of floating offshore wind projects to power large-scale e-Fuel production plants.
This is a synthetic fuel, manufactured using renewable electricity, water and air. CO2 from the air can be captured and combined with green hydrogen gas made from water using renewable electricity.
According to the company, carbon-neutral e-Fuel products can be used to power airplanes, ships and construction machinery.
“The concept of integrating large-scale floating offshore wind farms with large onshore e-Fuel production facilities offers many advantages," said Michael Galvin, Simply Blue's director of Hydrogen and Sustainable Fuels. “These e-Fuel production plants will be very flexible, meaning they can respond rapidly to the available wind energy and increase or decrease the e-Fuel production to suit the weather conditions. For example, e-Jet fuel production for the aviation sector can be varied to stabilize the electricity grid due to changing wind conditions or due to changes in electrical demand on the grid.”
Governments in Europe are setting targets for the use of renewable fuels, with some sub-mandates for e-Fuels due to take effect shortly.
07.01.2022
