Neptune Energy said that Dutch energy infrastructure company Nederlandse Gasunie has joined it as a new partner on the PosHYdon pilot, an offshore green hydrogen project in the Dutch North Sea.
According to the UK-based oil and gas company, PosHYdon integrates three energy systems – offshore wind, offshore gas and offshore hydrogen in the North Sea. The offshore green hydrogen project involves the installation of a hydrogen-producing plant on the Q13a platform operated by Neptune Energy.
Gasunie is the latest to enter into the PosHYdon consortium after NOGAT and Noordgastransport, which both own gas transport pipelines in the North Sea.
Neptune Energy Netherlands managing director Lex de Groot said: “Gasunie is already working hard to accelerate the energy transition, including several hydrogen pilots on land, and have the necessary knowledge and experience with electrolysis in-house.
“Now these two worlds onshore and offshore are literally connected in terms of infrastructure. The pipelines and infrastructure at sea of NOGAT and Noordgastransport are already suitable for hydrogen and that is good news as offshore production will continue to be crucial to meet Dutch energy demand.”
The PosHYdon pilot project was initiated by Nexstep and TNO
The PosHYdon pilot was initiated by Dutch association for decommissioning and reuse Nexstep and TNO, an organization the Netherlands for applied scientific research, in close collaboration with the industry.
Neptune Energy said that electricity produced by offshore wind turbines will be utilised to power the hydrogen plant on the Q13a platform, thereby enabling conversion of seawater into demineralised water and then into hydrogen through electrolysis.
The objective of the PosHYdon pilot project is to acquire experience of integrating working energy systems at sea and also hydrogen production in an offshore environment.
Located nearly 13km off the coast of Scheveningen, the Q13a is a fully electrified platform. Neptune Energy’s partners in the Q13a-A platform are EBN (40%) and TAQA Offshore (10%).
Gasunie CEO Han Fennema said: “The Netherlands is in a strong position to lead the transition to a hydrogen economy. We have the North Sea for the production of wind and gas, the ports as logistics hubs, the industrial clusters that want to switch to green molecules and excellent infrastructure for transport and storage.
“This comes together nicely in the Netherlands. If we want to achieve our climate ambitions, we must have a large-scale hydrogen infrastructure in good time. This pilot project can be an important step in the right direction.”
