Dutch state becomes active partner in offshore green hydrogen project

The Dutch state has announced it is stepping in as an active partner in the green hydrogen PosHYdon project through Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN).

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The project will see green hydrogen produced on an operational gas platform and be the first time that three offshore energy systems are integrated. The project will ensure green hydrogen production at sea and support Europe’s energy transition.

To safeguard public interest, EBN will actively participate in the project consortium, already being a 40% partner in the Q13a-A platform where the pilot is taking place.

The PosHYdon project implements three energy systems in the North Sea such as offshore wind, offshore gas, and offshore hydrogen and it will take place on Neptune Energy’s fully green electrifed platform, located around 13km off the coast of Scheveningen.

PosHYdon is now approaching its final phase, which will see the setup tested on land at InVesta, Alkmaar, in May 2024, and the first production of hydrogen on the platform operated by Neptune Energy scheduled for the second half of 2024.

Michel Heijdra, Director-General for Climate and Energy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, said, “EBN’s participation in the consortium guarantees a sufficiently large size of the project and ensures that the lessons learned are taken into account in the future.”

The CEO of EBN, Jan Willem van Hoogstraten, added, “PosHYdon plays a key role in the realisation of the green hydrogen economy. An ambitious, but also challenging project with an undeniable public interest. EBN feels a great responsibility to help ensure the success of PosHYdon, for the energy transition in the Netherlands and in northwest Europe.”

Last year (2022), US manufacturing company Emerson announced it was working on developing new technologies to support the safe and efficient operation of the offshore green hydrogen project.

Emerson managed the desalination and electrolyser units, gas blending and balance of plant equipment for the PosHYdon project.

The project will see green hydrogen blended with the gas and transported to the coast via an existing gas pipeline. Therefore, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has increased the blending specifications from 0.02% to 0.5% hydrogen.

In 2021, Nel ASA provided a MW-scale PEM electrolyser to the project, which can produce a maximum of 500kg of green hydrogen per day.

Source: https://www.h2-view.com/