Belgian group Deme signs up to pioneering North Sea hub
● World-first plan to combine gas, wind and hydrogen ● Project could pave way for much larger schemes
Belgian energy services giant Deme has become the latest industry player to join a major initiative to develop the world’s first offshore green hydrogen project.
Neptune Energy, the oil and gas firm headed by former Centrica boss Sam Laidlaw, said the renewable energy expertise of Deme’s offshore arm will be crucial on the project which looks to combine offshore wind, gas and hydrogen production technologies.
The aim is to produce hydrogen from seawater on the Q13a platform Dutch North Sea operated by Neptune. Hydrogen is a clean-burning fuel that can be used for long-term energy storage and to help decarbonise transport, heating and industrial processes.
Last month Neptune said Gasunie, Noordgastransport BV, NOGAT BV, and Eneco had also joined the pilot project, called Poshydon.
Lex de Groot, managing director for Neptune in the Netherlands, said Deme’s knowledge of connecting windfarms was crucial, not only for the pilot but also to gain experience for follow-up projects.
“The expertise that Deme has built worldwide will help scale up after Poshydon from 1 MW to 100 MW – a crucial step for further developing offshore wind energy and enabling conversion to hydrogen in the North Sea,” he said.
“This will be important for windfarms far away from the coast which will be built after 2030, particularly given electricity prices are so low, which could slow down the further development of offshore windfarms. This development is essential to support achieving future climate targets.”
Deme will provide the hydrogen unit for installation on the platform.
Bart De Poorter of Deme Offshore, said: “We see the system integration, green hydrogen production and electrification of existing platforms at sea as a very interesting market. We are very pleased with the strong partners within the consortium and with the collaboration with Neptune Energy, one of the pioneers in this market.”
Poshydon is an initiative of Nexstep, the Dutch association for decommissioning, and TNO, the Netherlands organisation for applied scientific research.
Meanwhile Simec Atlantis Energy, the renewable energy firm behind the Meygen tidal power project in the Pentland firth, yesterday announced a significant milestone had been achieved on its plans to convert a coal-fired power station in Wales to be fuelled by waste.
The Edinburgh-based firm said the month-long public consultation period for the plans will start on Monday.
The fuel pellets for the plant are made up of paper, cardboard and plastic waste which is not currently economically recyclable.