Following 14 months of testing, Lhyfe’s Sealhyfe project has been revealed to have met its initial objectives and progressed to an “unprecedented level of operational excellence”.
After carrying out tests on the offshore hydrogen production pilot platform between September 2022 and November 2023, Lhyfe brought it back to dock with its full production capacity intact – this was despite facing significant storms, waves over 10 metres high and winds of more than 150kph – and a wealth of other insights it is already using to the benefit of its onshore and offshore projects.
Following an initial period testing at the quayside, Sealhyfe – featuring a 1MW electrolyser from Plug – was transported to the SEM-REV offshore testing site where it was linked up with a floating wind turbine.
The aims here were to show Lhyfe’s ability to operate an industrial-scale production unit in an isolated environment, to prove the reliability of electrolysis technology in harsh environmental conditions representative of what future large-scale offshore sites will face, provide a database of operating data that can then be used to optimise and make production processes more reliable, and test the technologies employed on the platform with a view to scaling them up to sites that are 10 times and 100 times larger.
It has now reported successful testing of the system’s versatility and responsiveness under a wide range of configurations, with it able to manage the variability of wind power in specific offshore conditions and the electrolysis system reaching a performance that was the same as what has been achieved on land, showcasing its reliability.
On-board and remotely controlled measuring instruments were used throughout the pilot to identify ways to optimise the efficiency and reliability of Lhyfe’s production units for its other projects. This included safety systems, electrical architecture, automation, fluid and stock management.
The quayside testing phase was noted as being instrumental in allowing Lhyfe the chance to de-risk the project. The vast majority of impacts specific to offshore hydrogen production were identified and reduced. With the site remotely operated exclusively from Lhyfe’s control centre, using supervision and control tools it had specifically developed, it was able to validate the software and algorithms for producing green hydrogen and also reduce the amount of operations required in the marine environment. This saw fewer than 10 maintenance operations as the system operated for 70% of the time.
It was also able to work with French authorities to define the operating rules for a green hydrogen production unit that is operating within an urban, industrial and port environment, and one also capable of operating in the open sea.
The success of Sealhyfe is to be taken forward into the HOPE project, which marks the second phase of Lhyfe’s ambitions. Working with partners, it wants to develop a 10MW large-scale project that can produce up to 4 tonnes of green hydrogen a day at sea. This will then be exported to shore through pipeline and then compressed, after which it will be delivered to customers. It has the backing of a €20mn grant from the European Commission as part of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, as well as an additional €13mn from the Belgian government.
Lhyfe is also using the results to ensure production processes at its land-based sites are reliable and optimised from the outset. This will mean they can be ramped up quickly and progressively. Lhyfe is targeting 22 tonnes of green hydrogen a day by 2024. It wants this to rise to 80 tonnes by 2026.
