Hydrogen helping decarbonise a wide range of sectors

27/10/2020

In his book The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne wrote of a world where “water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable”.

That day seems to be getting a lot closer given the recent growth in policy and projects focused on developing the hydrogen economy.

Hydrogen is a colourless gas that does not naturally occur in its pure form on earth. Instead, it has to be produced from other compounds such as methane or the hydrolysis of water. Production of hydrogen from either of these methods requires energy which means hydrogen is a carrier or store of energy rather than an energy source. While hydrogen is a colourless gas, the methods for its production have colloquially been classified by colour, depending on how environmentally friendly the production method. “Green” hydrogen is hydrogen produced by renewable-powered electricity e.g. via offshore wind, “blue” hydrogen is hydrogen produced by fossil fuels but with carbon sequestration of the resulting carbon dioxide (CO2), and “black” hydrogen is hydrogen produced by fossil fuels without carbon sequestration of the resulting CO2.

The European Commission in its Hydrogen Strategy published in July 2020 emphasised the central role of green hydrogen in decarbonising shipping, aviation and other industrial areas which cannot easily be electrified. This strategy targets 6GW of green hydrogen by 2024 and an additional 40GW by 2030.

One of the first offshore-wind-to-hydrogen production projects is the recently announced 750 MW Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) project. Shell, one of the project owners, has said that some of the electricity produced by the offshore wind farm will feed an onshore electrolyser with a capacity to produce around 200 MW of Hydrogen. This green hydrogen will replace black hydrogen currently used in the Pernis refinery in Rotterdam.

Another interesting development is the proposed PosHYdon project, where a hydrogen generating unit will be installed on Neptune Energy’s Q13a platform. This platform was producing oil and gas but will be converted to produce hydrogen, which will be fed to shore through the existing gas pipeline. This is an example of how the existing oil and gas supply chain can be used to facilitate green energy. This could be something that we see more of as it will reduce the capital required to facilitate the energy transition.

Through our geoscience businesses UTEC, TerraSond and Benthic, and our foundation installation services companies like MENCK and LDD, Acteon expects to provide support services for the development of the offshore wind farms which will power hydrogen production. An area where we believe we will also be playing an important role is the hydrogen agenda and helping to ensure that the existing brownfield oil and gas assets in the North Sea can be used to generate and transport the hydrogen produced from wind. Through our group companies 2H Offshore, Clarus, Deepwater Corrosion and Claxton we have significant experience in engineering, asset data management, corrosion prevention and integrity management to safely extend the life of these ageing offshore assets.