Offshore green hydrogen production viable once market reaches maturity stage

The market for offshore production of green hydrogen using wind energy will become more commercially viable with an increase in market maturity, driven by investment in technology and innovation.

This is according to findings from the BEHYOND study, conducted by a consortium of EDP, TechnipFMC, CEiiA, WavEC, and the Norwegian University USN to assess the technical and economic viability of producing renewable hydrogen using offshore wind energy.

The first phase of BEHYOND was funded by European funds under efforts by the bloc to explore how green hydrogen produced offshore can help accelerate the energy transition and decarbonisation of the economy.

The study concluded that with the offshore wind market anticipated to grow massively over the next decade, the production of green hydrogen at the same locations will be viable.

In addition to expanding the hydrogen market, the concept has the potential to improve the competitiveness of the offshore wind energy and blue economy markets.

However, the study also concluded that there is a need for increased support from investors in technology innovation and an increase in demand for renewable energy for the concept to become relevant and widely used.

The results have been released as European energy stakeholders are increasingly deploying hydrogen and green hydrogen pilots in a bid to prepare the economy for a boom of the resource.

The pilots include the development of electrolysers to increase production, the use of existing natural gas transmission and distribution infrastructure for hydrogen transportation, expanding hydrogen storage capacity, making power generators hydrogen-ready and increasing hydrogen demand.

EDP was responsible for the strategic assessment of the offshore wind-hydrogen market, the definition of business cases, and the technological innovation during the pilot.

The company seeks to leverage the lessons learned from the project to expand the green hydrogen, offshore wind energy market locally and regionally.

Source: https://energycentral.com