RWE and Neptune Energy have agreed to co-develop a green hydrogen project in the Dutch North Sea by 2030. The partners foresee the roll-out of green hydrogen production to gigawatt scale in the North Sea.
The wind-powered demonstration project, H2opZee, would produce green hydrogen through electrolysis, with the output being piped ashore via an existing pipeline.
It will comprise two phases. The first, a feasibility study, would begin in the second quarter of this year, providing a shareable “knowledge platform”. The second phase would see the project being built.
The developers have identified European industrial companies that are seeking to transition to green hydrogen as potential customers, as well as heavy transport firms.
Sven Utermöhlen, chief executive of offshore wind for RWE Renewables, said: “With Neptune Energy at our side, we want to develop the H2opZee project to demonstrate how offshore wind can be an ideal partner for the production of green hydrogen at scale, and to explore the best approaches to system integration.”
He added: “We are convinced that learnings from the H2opZee demonstration project will help in ramping-up the hydrogen economy in the Netherlands, as it presents an important step towards the roll-out of large-scale green hydrogen production offshore.”
Lex de Groot, managing director of Neptune Energy in the Netherlands, said the existing pipeline infrastructure was entirely suitable for the H2opZee project. He continued: “We see an important role for green hydrogen in the future energy supply. The faster we can scale up green hydrogen at sea, the faster industries such as chemicals and steel production can become more sustainable.”
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