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The Danish energy company Orsted is advancing plans to develop a demonstration project using offshore wind energy to produce “green” hydrogen.
In an announcement on Wednesday, the company said it had made a final investment decision in the 2-megawatt (MW) H2RES system, which can produce up to 1,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen per day.
The project is scheduled to produce its first hydrogen towards the end of this year and will take place at Orsted’s Avedøre power station south of Copenhagen.
Orsted said H2RES would evaluate “how an electrolyser can best be combined with the fluctuating power supply from offshore wind”. The electricity will come from two 3.6 MW turbines, with the hydrogen generated by the system providing fuel for road transport.
Hydrogen can be produced in a number of ways. One possibility is electrolysis, in which an electric current splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity used comes from a renewable source such as wind, it is referred to as “green” or “renewable” hydrogen.
In a statement, Anders Nordstrøm, who heads Orsted’s hydrogen activities, described H2RES as a “small but important step towards large-scale production of renewable hydrogen”.
Orsted and his partners received funding for the program from the Danish Energy Agency’s development and demonstration program for energy technology as early as 2019. The funding amounted to 34.6 million Danish kroner (approximately 5.63 million US dollars).
Orsted is one of many large companies looking to explore the potential of green hydrogen production.
Earlier this week, a subsidiary of German industrial giant Thyssenkrupp received an engineering contract to install an 88 MW water electrolysis system for Hydro-Québec. The electricity for this project will come from hydropower.
And back in November it was announced that BP would be working with Orsted on the development of a large project for renewable hydrogen in a refinery in northwest Germany.
At that point, BP announced that it had signed a letter of intent with Orsted to collaborate on the initiative. According to the oil and gas giant, the project includes the development of a first 50-megawatt electrolyser and “associated infrastructure” at the Lingen refinery. According to BP, the electrolyser should produce almost 9,000 tons of hydrogen annually.
Other companies that have been involved in projects related to the production of green hydrogen in recent years are Repsol and Siemens Energy.
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