Orsted to develop major green hydrogen hub
Danish energy company Orsted announced on Wednesday its plans to develop one of the world's largest renewable hydrogen plants to be linked to increased industrial demands in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The "Sea2Land" project represents an ambitious vision, with plans to offer industrial-scale electrolysis to the Flemish-North Sea Ports Cluster through a planned cross-border pipeline while the electricity is set to be generated through offshore wind.
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A number of key industry players support the shift, which will be necessary for the region's shift to rapid decarbonisation by 2030.
The project includes a 1 GW renewable hydrogen production facility. If realised, this could convert around 20% of the region's hydrogen into renewable energy.
With 580,000 tons per year, the North Sea Port cluster is one of the largest production and demand centers of fossil hydrogen in Europe today.
Driven by decarbonisation efforts, industrial demand in the cluster could grow to about 1,000,000 tons by 2050, equivalent to roughly 10 GW of electrolysis.
Orsted plans to connect the green hydrogen facility to an offshore wind portfolio of around 2 GW located in the Dutch North Sea.
This will enable the large-scale supply of renewable electricity required for the production of renewable hydrogen and fits well with the ambitions of the Dutch authorities for an accelerated offshore wind roll-out in line with increasing electricity demand.
The offshore wind farm could be built in one of the zones in the southern part of the Dutch exclusive economic zone that has already been designated for offshore wind development.
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Subject to a regulatory framework being in place, the regional network will unlock the first phase of SeaH2Land, which comprises 500 MW of electrolyzer capacity.
The second phase of SeaH2Land which scales the electrolyzer capacity to 1 GW will require the possibility to connect to a national hydrogen backbone, providing additional flexibility and storage.
The partnership will now move forward and engage in dialogue with the regulatory authorities on the framework and policies needed to support the development of renewable hydrogen linked to large-scale offshore wind, the regional infrastructure, and conduct a full feasibility study of the project.
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