Producing hydrogen offshore and transporting it to land via pipeline is cheaper than transmitting offshore wind power for onshore production, which could make the North Sea a potential hydrogen production hub with enough infrastructure investment, says certification firm DNV.

“What we see is that areas located over 100km from the coastline offer lower levelised costs of production. At this distance, it costs more per energy unit to transport electricity than to carry hydrogen via pipeline,” explains Claas Huelsen, regional advisory business development director for energy systems at DNV and co-author of the report.

“At this distance, it costs more per energy unit to transport electricity than to carry hydrogen via pipeline” Huelsen, DNV

The study suggests the North Sea could be a prime location for offshore hydrogen production, although this would require significant investment in creating a pipeline backbone through several countries. An investment of €35–52bn ($37–55bn) into transport and storage infrastructure could enable hydrogen system costs in the North Sea of €4.69–4.97/kg, the report calculates. This would include investment into underground storage such as salt caverns, in which the study suggests storing up to 30pc of hydrogen produced offshore to increase the flexibility of the system.

The report was commissioned by Belgian gas transmission company Fluxys and its German peer Gascade, which are developing the 1mn t/yr Aquaductus pipeline in the German North Sea. The two firms have applied for EU Project of Common Interest status from the European Commission.

“The Aquaductus offshore pipeline, thought as a regulated open access infrastructure available to all future operators of hydrogen wind farms, will make a substantial contribution to security of supply by diversifying Europe's hydrogen supply sources,” says Pascal De Buck, CEO of Fluxys.

Fluxys and Gascade aim to start up the Aquaductus pipeline by 2035.

“The EU expects demand for climate-neutral hydrogen to reach 2,000TWh by 2050, and DNV sees the potential to produce 300TWh of hydrogen using electricity from offshore windfarms in the North Sea by 2050,” says Gascade managing director Ulrich Benterbusch.

“This would make a significant contribution to reducing dependence on energy imports. This positive aspect for increasing supply security can hardly be valued highly enough after the experiences of the recent past,” he adds.

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Author: Polly Martin