Dutch Gasunie together with partners is looking into the possibility of building a hydrogen network in the North Sea that will interconnect with wind farms in the area.
The Netherlands has a big climate goal to meet when it comes to making hydrogen. The Netherlands wants to make 4 gigawatts of hydrogen by 2030. This is an ambitious goal. Even more so on the international level. The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Belgium signed the Esbjerg Declaration last summer. In it, they agreed to turn the North Sea into a “green power plant.” By 2030, they want to get 65 gigawatts of power from offshore wind farms, 20 gigawatts of which will be used to make green hydrogen.
Green hydrogen will be an important part of the change in how energy is made. It will be used, for example, to help make industry and heavy transportation more environmentally friendly. It will also be used as a feedstock for the chemical industry.
Solar and wind power are used to make green hydrogen. Most of the energy for the Dutch hydrogen plans comes from wind farms out at sea. Along the Dutch continental shelf in the North Sea, there is a chance that enough energy could be made on a large scale. Plans for up to 2030 say that most of the electricity from future wind farms will come to land through cables. Once it gets back to land, electrolysis plants can turn it into green hydrogen.
Making hydrogen out at sea
But putting down power lines is an expensive job, and it will be even more expensive when wind farms are built farther out to sea in the next few years. The Dutch government thinks that it will cost around 26 billion euros to put money into the offshore cable network. Partly because of this, offshore electrolysis near the power source is also now being thought about. Instead of running an expensive cable to bring the electricity to shore, this power would be used to make hydrogen right there.
The hydrogen would then be sent through pipelines to the mainland. Putting in an offshore pipeline is not only much cheaper than putting in a cable, but it can also move more energy at once. Research has shown that large-scale electrolysis on land has higher social costs than large-scale electrolysis offshore.
Gasunie is now looking into the possibility of putting in a hydrogen network offshore. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy paid for this work after research showed that about 85 percent of the existing gas pipeline network can be used safely to send hydrogen.
So far, all electrolysis projects have been done on land. The technology to make hydrogen at sea is still in its early stages. Gasunie says that larger pilots and projects could be running in 2028 or 2029.
Image source: Gasunie
