Plans by the Dutch government to potentially combine tenders for hydrogen and offshore wind projects will help create a more balanced energy network, the head of the Dutch hydrogen association says.

Following advice from consultancy Guidehouse, the government is assessing the possibility of joint tenders for onshore electrolysis coupled with offshore wind projects and will present an update in the summer.

“Combining tenders for offshore wind and hydrogen storage will give rise to the opportunity of better utilisation of grids through more stable loading of lines from offshore wind parks to shore connections,” William van Niekerk, chairman of Dutch hydrogen and fuel cell association the NWBA, tells Hydrogen Economist.

The Netherlands aims to have 500MW of installed electrolyser capacity by 2025 and as much as 3-4GW by 2030. It wants to play a pivotal role in supplying northwestern Europe with hydrogen by converting some of its gas pipeline infrastructure so it can transport hydrogen.

“Combining tenders for offshore wind and hydrogen storage will give rise to the opportunity of better utilisation of grids” van Niekerk, NWBA

The domestic energy industry is supportive of the government’s ambitions and has committed to a number of large investments. These include Europe’s biggest green hydrogen plant— spearheaded by Shell, gas network operator Gasunie and port authority Groningen Seaports—which is expected to produce 800,000t by 2040 and which last month attracted Germany's RWE and Norway's Equinor as new partners.

Annual Dutch hydrogen demand is estimated to be 117-244TWh by 2050, according to North Sea Energy, a public-private research programme supported by more than 30 international companies including Total, Shell and Equinor. This means that up to 49pc of all Dutch electricity generated by offshore wind would need to be used to produce green hydrogen in order to meet demand.

The Netherlands is targeting 49TWh of electricity produced from offshore wind farms by 2030, but Dutch minister of economic affairs and climate policy Eric Wiebes says allocated offshore wind capacity is likely insufficient to meet this goal. He says an additional 700MW in offshore wind capacity is needed to meet the 2030 target and that a study is being carried out to analyse how much extra wind capacity can be connected to the grid before 2030.

“I am explicitly taking into account the construction of onshore electrolysers near the [offshore cable] landing location and the possibility of developing a joint tender in order to promote system integration,” Wiebes writes.

The details will have to be hashed out by the formation of the next Dutch government, which will be elected in March.

Industry interest

Some companies are already preparing for combining hydrogen production with offshore wind. One example is the Hollandse Kust (noord) offshore wind farm proposed by Shell and utility Eneco, which is set to use some of the wind power generated to produce green hydrogen. The government highlighted this element as one of the reasons why the project won a tender for the site in July.

3-4GW – Dutch target for electrolyser capacity by 2030

“Integrated offshore wind power and storage will bring costs further down through innovation,” says NWBA’s Niekerk.

Guidehouse, which has also been commissioned to assess joint tenders, recommends a model joining offshore wind and onshore electrolysis elements for projects coming onstream before 2030. The consultancy says combined tenders can significantly reduce the risks associated with volatile electricity prices and present an opportunity to make investing in offshore wind more attractive.

“When the wholesale electricity price is low, an operator can choose to produce hydrogen with the generated wind energy, thereby obtaining more value than through the sale of electricity on the wholesale market,” the consultancy notes.

When power prices are high, hydrogen production can be scaled back in favour of selling the wind-generated electricity on the wholesale market.

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Author: Karolin Schaps