Hydrogen

In addition, the individual member states have their own targets (see figure below). In general, 1 to 3 billion euros per GW is reserved by individual member states to support the capacity roll-out announced in their national hydrogen strategies. In contrast to green hydrogen developments, no clear capacity targets have been set for blue hydrogen. Implicit targets have been set by the UK stating that 10 GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity for the year 2030 with at least half of that using green energy. Combining the targets set by the individual member states, more than 40 GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity – some countries do not distinguish between electrolyser and other production technologies – is foreseen to be placed within the North Sea Region by 2030. No specific targets exist yet for offshore hydrogen production.

When limiting the system boundaries to the P2G plant alone, one can observe many advantages of onshore hydrogen production in terms of risks, costs, synergy, availability of space, etc. However, when taking a system perspective, the factors come into the picture where offshore hydrogen production can prove to have advantages. Among these are the avoidance of long lead times for electric infrastructure where hydrogen production from green electricity can relieve the stress on electric grid expansion, and/or offshore green hydrogen production can act as an enabler of synergies between the offshore O&G infrastructure and offshore wind.

Offshore hydrogen has received more attention by industry lately. The first pilot for offshore green hydrogen production – the PosHydon project – is on its way, in order to clarify uncertainties and to give a clear guidance as to where and how green hydrogen production fits in the package of sustainable development measures of national and regional policymaking. H2opZee plans for a demonstration project for 300-500 MW of offshore hydrogen production capacity. Other initiatives like NortH2, Aquaventus, and Ceto are already considering large-scale (up to 10GW) applications.

DNV expects that cost parity of green hydrogen and grey hydrogen would at least take another decade and will be contingent on governmental support. They expect that – going with what has been announced publicly – electrolyser capacity should grow towards 9GW/year within 5 to 10 years and we expect that half of this capacity would be installed in the North Sea Region due to proximity of offshore wind and potential industrial offtake.