Dutch government takes part in PosHYdon offshore hydrogen project

The Dutch government, through Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN), has joined the PosHYdon project, the world’s first pilot which aims to produce green hydrogen on an operational gas platform in the North Sea.

The project, which will integrate three offshore energy systems – offshore wind, offshore gas, and offshore hydrogen – for the first time, will take place on Neptune Energy’s Q13a-A platform. This production platform is the first fully green electrified platform in the Dutch North Sea and is located approximately 13 kilometers off the coast of Scheveningen. 

The green hydrogen will be blended with the gas and transported to the coast via the existing gas pipeline. To this end, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has increased the blending specifications from 0.02% to 0.5% hydrogen. The 1 MW electrolyzer will follow the wind profile of the Luchterduinen wind farm. 

The PosHYdon is seen as an essential project for the development of large-scale production of green hydrogen at sea and thus for the energy transition in the Netherlands and Northwest Europe.

To safeguard this public interest, EBN, which is already a 40% partner in the Q13a-A platform, decided to actively participate in the consortium behind the PosHYdon project. Other participants in the consortium are Nel Hydrogen, InVesta, Hatenboer, Iv-Offshore & Energy, Emerson, Nexstep, TNO, Neptune Energy, Gasunie, Noordgastransport, NOGAT, DEME, TAQA, and Eneco.

Michel Heijdra, Director-General for Climate and Energy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, said: “We are on the eve of the large-scale development of the North Sea as an engine for the energy transition. Electrolysis at sea will play an important role in this.

“In PosHYdon, the first steps are being taken to achieve this. That is why the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy sees this as an essential project. EBN’s participation in the consortium guarantees a sufficiently large size of the project and ensures that the lessons learned are taken into account in the future.”

Jan Willem van Hoogstraten, CEO of Energie Beheer Nederland, added: “PosHYdon plays a key role in the realisation of the green hydrogen economy. An ambitious, but also challenging project with an undeniable public interest. EBN feels a great responsibility to help ensure the success of PosHYdon. For the energy transition in the Netherlands and in Northwest Europe.”

PosHYdon is now approaching the final phase in which the setup will be tested on land at InVesta in May 2024.