Offshore wind to hydrogen projects point to the future of energy

COP26 saw several ambitious projects announced. None more so than the huge offshore wind-to hydrogen project headlined by Aker. The Norwegian conglomerate, through its Aker Offshore Wind and Aker Clean Hydrogen subsidiaries, launched plans for a 10GW floating offshore wind farm to power floating green hydrogen production facilities in the waters off Scotland. They would send the hydrogen to a net-zero refinery built on Shetland for conversion into zero carbon energy solutions such as ammonia and synthetic fuels.

The Norwegian classification and certification giant DNV, have joined Aker and together they will now embark upon a consultation period with governments and businesses as part of the maturation of the project. DNV’s Ditlev Engel, CEO of Energy Systems, said, “To meet the targets of the Paris Agreement, the world needs to transition faster to a deeply decarbonized energy system. This will require greater renewable power generation and electrification, but also extending the reach of renewable energy to hard-to-abate sectors that cannot be readily electrified – through conversion to green hydrogen and synthetic fuels.”

Aker says the project could start production as early as 2030 and would develop a fit-for-purpose Scottish supply chain ready to export green hydrogen products to any fuel-heavy industry or country. They predict billions in investment and thousands of jobs through construction and operation. “This is a technically and economically feasible plan to deliver floating offshore wind,” said Sian Lloyd-Rees, Managing Director of Aker Offshore Wind UK. “At the scale needed to deliver clean energy products which can be used to decarbonize fuel-heavy industries such as shipping and aviation.”

10GW of floating wind power will power both the floating green hydrogen facilities and the Shetland refinery. Aker predict the facility would produce enough liquid hydrogen to fuel 40% of the total bus mileage in the UK and create synthetic fuel for 750 return flights London-New York.

In other wind-to-hydrogen news, another eight companies have joined the extensive AquaVentus consortium. Aquaventus is developing another 10GW wind-to-hydrogen project, this one in German. The initiative now consists of 79 members, including the latest additions Heerema, Neptune, Ramboll, and Saipem. Other recent additions to the network included Ørsted, Equinor, J-Power and Hitachi-ABB Power. The plans include an offshore wind farm with integrated hydrogen generation named AquaPrimus, a central supply pipeline called AquaDuctus, an offshore hydrogen production park called AquaSector and port facilities called AquaPortus.

The Gigastack offshore wind-to hydrogen project, a joint development from Ørsted, Phillips 66, ITM Power and Element Energy, has announced plans to install a 100MW electrolyser in the Humber by 2025. Hornsea Two, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, would provide the power. They would use the produced green hydrogen in the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery as replacement fuel for their fired heaters. Duncan Clark, Head of Region UK, Ørsted, said, “The findings from the Gigastack project provide an important step for renewable hydrogen in the UK and highlight the decarbonisation opportunities achievable with the right support framework in place. Offshore wind provides enormous potential with the installed capacity we already have in the UK and with huge amounts more to come. There is a genuine opportunity to support the pathway to net-zero for energy-intensive industry through truly green hydrogen and for the UK to be at the global forefront of renewable hydrogen development and deployment.”