Energy consultancy Ramboll is to investigate how a group of energy heavyweights can pair gigawatt-scale offshore wind with green hydrogen production in the Dutch North Sea.
It will support the NortH2 consortium – consisting of Dutch utility Eneco, German counterpart RWE, and energy majors Equinor and Shell – which plans to use 10GW of offshore wind capacity to power 3-4GW of electrolysis capacity by 2040.
The group is considering electrolysers to produce hydrogen both onshore and offshore, including on an offshore platform or directly at the base of the wind turbines.
Ramboll will scope out feasible wind farm designs, electrolyser technologies and hydrogen transportation, and also develop environmental impact assessment, levelised cost of hydrogen calculations, and business cases for the project.
Milko Binza Moussirou, senior chief project manager at Ramboll said: “Projects using onshore rather than offshore electrolysers tend to be less expensive – but as production scales, this might shift. So it makes perfect sense to investigate this option further.”
Ramboll aims to conclude the feasibility study in January 2023.
