Norway-based company Deep Wind Offshore has entered into collaboration with Hydepoint to explore offshore hydrogen production from offshore wind.
The two companies will work together to explore best possible integration of offshore wind and hydrogen.
Deep Wind Offshore is developing offshore wind parks worldwide, so far with projects in Norway, Sweden, and South Korea, while HydePoint is a technology company specializing in offshore hydrogen production and provides solutions that can integrate hydrogen production with offshore wind parks.
“Hydrogen will be an essential part of the energy mix towards net zero. By producing hydrogen offshore close to the wind farms, the wind farms can be built further out to sea, to avoid conflicted areas, and at the same time increase utilization and profitability.
“This is relevant in several of our current and coming markets, including Sweden. Hydepoint has an exciting technology, and we look forward to together explore opportunities”, said Knut Vassbotn, CEO of Deep Wind Offshore.
The European Commission has launched an action plan which will ensure growth in wind power to reach its climate goals. According to the plan, there must be installed a total of 500 GW of offshore and onshore wind power by 2030.
Electricity production from offshore wind will become a significant source of renewable energy, but current grids are not prepared to receive neither the large amounts of power nor the peaks expected from renewable energy.
Offshore hydrogen production from offshore wind will reduce the need for investments in grids, as well as providing a renewable product that can be delivered to demand centers further afield.
Plans are currently explored for hydrogen export pipelines from Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Germany, and could facilitate offshore hydrogen production close to the windfarms and delivering hydrogen directly into these pipelines.
“Exploring the best possible integration of offshore wind and hydrogen in an early project development phase can further optimize the value of the combined asset and reduce dependency on upgrades to existing infrastructure. In addition, the time it takes to start production of green hydrogen offshore can be significantly reduced by planning the wind farm and the hydrogen processing plant in parallel”, said Elin Steinsland, CEO of HydePoint.