The world’s first offshore green hydrogen pilot on a working platform is set to further progress after being awarded a subsidy by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
On 22 July, Neptune Energy announced that the PosHYdon project had been awarded funding under the RVO’s Demonstration Energy and climate innovation (DEI+) scheme. The project is aiming to validate the integration of offshore wind, offshore gas and offshore hydrogen in the Dutch North Sea, leading to the necessary insights that will allow for the development of large scale green hydrogen production at sea.
PosHYdon will see a green hydrogen plant installed on Neptune Energy’s Q13a-A platform, which will convert seawater into demineralised water before this then becomes green hydrogen through electrolysis. The green hydrogen will then be blended with natural gas and transported to shore through an existing pipeline.
According to Neptune Energy’s Managing Director for the Netherlands, Lex de Groot, the Dutch North Sea sector has an “exciting future” as a new energy hub and has the potential to play a leading role in large scale green hydrogen production for north western Europe, owed to its infrastructure that connects offshore with onshore.
He added: “The integration of energy systems supports net zero goals in a smart, efficient, and cost-effective manner and without disturbing existing sea ecosystems. The extensive infrastructure network is connected to international grids and can easily accommodate wind farms further out at sea by converting the production of green electricity into green hydrogen and transporting it to the grid onshore. PosHYdon will be the key to making this happen and we are excited to consider future opportunities that the pilot can help unlock.”
