The PosHYdon pilot, which aims to produce green hydrogen on an operational gas platform in the Dutch North Sea, kicked off the onshore test successfully this week.
The onshore tests take place at InVesta in Alkmaar. In Vesta is one of the consortium partners. After this testing period onshore, the electrolyzer will be transferred offshore to the Neptune Energy-operated Q13a-A platform, 13 kilometers off the coast of Scheveningen (The Hague). This platform was the first fully green electrified platform in the Dutch North Sea.
It will then be the first time three energy systems will be integrated in the Dutch North Sea: offshore wind, offshore gas and offshore hydrogen. The green hydrogen will be blended with the gas and transported to the coast via the existing gas pipeline. To this end, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has increased the blending specifications from 0.02% to 0.5% hydrogen. The 1 MW electrolyser will follow the wind profile of the Luchterduinen wind farm. First offshore hydrogen production is planned for Q4 this year.
The pilot is essential for the development of large-scale production of green hydrogen at sea and thus for the energy transition in the Netherlands and Northwest Europe.
René Peters, Business Director Gas Technologies TNO and initiator of the North Sea Energy Program said: “PosHYdon is teaching us a lot about the next steps that need to be taken towards safe, large-scale green hydrogen production from wind at sea. Offshore green hydrogen production will enable large-scale wind farms to be developed far out at sea. Wind energy is directly converted to green hydrogen from demineralized seawater and can be transported through the existing or new gas infrastructure.
As a result, offshore wind projects can be realized faster at significantly lower costs for society. I am therefore very happy that we can now test the complete installation onshore, in preparation for transferring it offshore for the final test: offshore green hydrogen production.”
In addition, PosHYdon will also participate in a pilot for Guarantees of Origin for green hydrogen and the upcoming migration towards European hydrogen certification. This pilot, also open to others, is being planned via HyXchange. Neptune Energy (Eni) participated before in the HyXchange certification pilot in 2022.
PosHYdon partners
The PosHYdon consortium comprises 15 public and private organisations: Nel Hydrogen, InVesta, Hatenboer, Iv-Offshore & Energy, Emerson, Nexstep, TNO, Neptune Energy Netherlands (Eni), Gasunie, Noordgastransport, NOGAT, DEME, TAQA, Eneco and EBN.
Partners in the Q13a-A platform: Neptune Energy (operator and 50%), EBN B.V. (40%) and TAQA Offshore B.V. (10%). Source: PosHYdon
