A Dutch pilot project just 13 kilometres off the coast of Scheveningen has successfully produced green hydrogen on an operational offshore gas platform while natural gas production continued at the same time. The PosHYdon pilot is taking place on the Q13a-A platform and is intended to demonstrate how existing offshore oil and gas infrastructure could potentially be reused as part of the energy transition.
The project shows that renewable electricity from offshore wind could in future be used at sea to produce green hydrogen. That hydrogen could then be transported through existing offshore pipelines, potentially reducing the need to build entirely new infrastructure.
The quantities currently being produced are deliberately small. The aim of the pilot is to test whether the technology works safely and reliably under real offshore conditions and to gather information that could support larger-scale hydrogen projects in the future.
Over the coming months, TNO and the other project partners will analyse the results of the pilot. The findings are expected to help determine the next steps for scaling up offshore hydrogen production and reusing existing North Sea infrastructure.
The PosHYdon project brings together a broad group of public and private partners and is described as the world’s first project to combine offshore wind energy, natural gas production and hydrogen production at sea.
Source and full article: The Hague & Partners
Image credit: The Hague & Partners / PosHYdon