The world’s first offshore wind/green hydrogen pilot is to go ahead this year after its project consortium received €9m ($11m) of funding from state-owned development bank Innovation Norway.

It is the first step towards commercialising the group’s Deep Purple concept, which aims to use excess offshore wind power to create green hydrogen via offshore electrolysers and store the gas in underwater tanks. On-site fuel cells would then convert the clean H ₂ back into electricity when required.

About two thirds of the funding for the pilot is coming from the project partners themselves — oil & gas services provider TechnipFMC, Swedish utility Vattenfall, Spanish oil & gas giant Repsol, Swiss technology company ABB, Norwegian electrolyser manufacturer Nel Hydrogen, Norway-based advisory firm DNV GL, Norwegian conglomerate Umoe and Norwegian process-control engineer Slåttland.

The onshore pilot project, at an industrial park in Kongsberg, Norway, will be under 1MW in size, and will not use a wind turbine — it will instead simulate the output of a turbine — but utilise multiple electrolysers, fuel cells and storage tanks, TechnipFMC’s Deep Purple business manager Jørn Lindtvedt tells Recharge. The set-up will be primarily designed to develop and test an advanced control system that would ultimately allow the system to operate autonomously.

Engineering work will begin on the pilot in the first quarter of this year, with construction starting towards the end of 2021 and commissioning expected in the first quarter of 2022. The project is expected to take two-and-a-half years in total.

“Securing the approvals and funding to proceed with a scale pilot is a critical step in the path to commercialisation,” said Jonathan Landes, president of TechnipFMC’s Subsea business unit. “We are grateful to our partners and to Innovation Norway for collaborating with us as we advance sustainable renewables production.”

Wind

Offshore wind-powered green hydrogen system to be piloted after fresh funding