HydePoint innovates hydrogen-producing substation for offshore wind

Offshore wind is already an important source of new renewable energy globally. However, the current onshore grids are not prepared to receive the large amounts of power or the peaks expected from renewable energy sources.

“A partial or full conversion of the energy to hydrogen will reduce the need for grid investments and effectively increase the production of green hydrogen,” explains Steinsland.

HydePoint is developing an offshore hydrogen-producing substation that will utilise wind resources more efficiently. Placed in the ocean near wind farms, HydePoint can convert all or part of the wind energy into hydrogen. This will reduce the need for upscaling the power grid both to and on land.

“HydePoint is a complete solution for receiving, converting and transmitting the full energy potential from offshore wind farms, while reducing dependence on the onshore power grid,” explains Steinsland.

The solution will allow new wind farms to be located where the wind resources are strongest, even though the grid infrastructure is poor or absent. The unmanned, modular and industrialised platform can be delivered to both floating and bottom-fixed wind farms. The concept can easily be scaled in size and number.

HydePoint is designed for cost-efficient offshore operations, increasing the competitiveness of offshore wind as an energy source. “We believe we can produce green hydrogen at a price the market is willing to pay,” says Steinsland.

This will be a huge step forward. Today, most heavy industries rely on cheaper, more abundant grey hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas. In the future, with solutions such as HydePoint, industries can more easily switch to zero-emission green hydrogen and significantly reduce their environmental footprint.

In addition, more green hydrogen will promote the growth of alternative energy carriers such as ammonia and synthetic LNG. “HydePoint will help hydrogen consumers to meet decarbonisation goals in hard-to-abate sectors,” notes Steinsland.

Moreover, the solution will increase flexibility in the onshore power grid, which currently is not dimensioned for the number of large-scale renewable projects planned, and solve the problem of intermittency through energy storage.

Demand for hydrogen produced from renewable energy is rapidly increasing. At the same time, global installed offshore wind capacity is expected to reach 630 GW by 2050, up from 40 GW in 2020, and with an upside potential of 1 000 GW in a 1.5 °C pathway scenario.

Strong parallel growth in these markets bodes well for HydePoint. “We are inviting new partners to collaborate with us on developing technologies that enable and optimise offshore hydrogen production,” says Steinsland.

HydePoint is backed by industrial owners with access to experts within core technical domains: Arendals Fossekompani, Kongsberg Group and Moreld. The consortium represents 50 years of experience in the offshore sector and has a demonstrated ability to deliver.

HydePoint is building a pre-commercial pilot, which is expected to be completed in 2024. A standardised product could be ready as soon as 2028. The target customers are offshore wind farm developers, especially in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK.