Nel ASA joined the consortium agreement for the PosHYdon project, which aims to validate the integration of offshore wind, natural gas, and hydrogen, offshore the Netherlands. Nel will provide a MW-scale PEM electrolyser for the project.

PosHYdon seeks to validate the integration of three energy systems in the Dutch North Sea: offshore wind, offshore natural gas and offshore hydrogen, and will involve the installation of a hydrogen-production plant including a Nel PEM electrolyser on the Neptune Energy-operated Q13a-A platform. The Q13a-A is the first fully electrified platform in the Dutch North Sea, located approximately 13 kilometres off the coast of Scheveningen (The Hague).

“Nel sees hydrogen from offshore wind as a key future market with enormous growth potential over the next 5 to 10 years and we are very excited to be a part of this first-of-its-kind project to show the potential of our PEM technology in this unique application” says Filip Smeets, head of Nel Electrolyser division.

Electricity generated by offshore wind turbines will be used to power the hydrogen plant on the Q13a-A platform, converting seawater into demineralized water, then into green hydrogen via electrolysis. The aim of the pilot is to gain experience of integrating working energy systems at sea and the production of hydrogen in an offshore environment. The green hydrogen will be mixed with the gas and transported via the existing gas pipeline to the coast. The 1.25 MW containerized electrolyser will produce a maximum of 500 kilogrammes of green hydrogen per day.

The following partners are part of the PosHYdon consortium: Nel Hydrogen, InVesta, Hatenboer, IV-Offshore & Energy Emerson Automation Solutions, Nexstep, TNO, Neptune Energy, Gasunie, Noordgastransport, NOGAT, DEME Offshore, TAQA, and Eneco

Partners in the Q13a-A platform: Neptune Energy (operator and 50%), EBN B.V. (40%) and TAQA Offshore B.V. (10%).