(Essen/Hamburg/Hannover/Berlin) – The companies RWE, Shell, Gasunie and Equinor want to strengthen their cooperation in the “AquaSector” project. The project is intended to show “that hydrogen production at sea is an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable option for producing green hydrogen in Germany,” according to the companies.
According to the plan, in this large-scale offshore hydrogen park, an electrolyzer with an output of around 300 megawatts (MW) will one day produce up to 20.000 tons of green hydrogen per year at sea. This will then be transported to Heligoland from 2028 via a line called “AquaDuctus”. The consortium also sees the AquaSector project as a test run for the implementation of “AquaVentus”. Within this framework, an electrolysis capacity of ten gigawatts is to be installed by 2035 and the green hydrogen is to be transported via a pipeline to the German mainland.
“Compared to transporting generated electricity, producing hydrogen at sea and transporting it via a pipeline can offer significant economic advantages,” said RWE. The pipeline could replace five high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission links that would otherwise have to be built. “The line is by far the most cost-effective option for transporting large amounts of energy.”
However, the first step on this path to the mass market is a detailed feasibility study. The companies expect this to provide “important information about the conditions under which the offshore hydrogen park can be successfully set up and what technical and economic challenges need to be overcome in offshore hydrogen production.”
Consortium of corporations
RWE Renewables GmbH, part of RWE AG, says it has onshore and offshore wind farms, photovoltaic systems and battery storage with an output of around nine gigawatts. From 2020 to 2022, RWE Renewables wants to invest five billion euros in renewable energies and expand the portfolio to 13 gigawatts of output.
Royal Dutch Shell is one of the world's largest petroleum and natural gas companies. The company is targeting net-zero emissions by 2050 and is investing billions in low-carbon energy globally, including electric vehicle charging stations, hydrogen, renewable energy and biofuels. The energy infrastructure company NV Nederlandse Gasunie has one of the largest high-pressure pipeline networks in Europe, with 17.000 kilometers of pipelines in the Netherlands and Germany.
The Norwegian Equinor ASA was created from the merger of the former state-owned company Statoil and the oil and gas activities of Norsk Hydro, whose 67 percent majority is held by the Norwegian state. As part of its realignment, the company with over 21.000 employees wants to exploit the synergies between oil, gas, renewable energies, carbon capture and offshore storage (CCOS) and hydrogen. According to its own information, the group is developing a growing portfolio in the offshore wind sector. In the Baltic Sea, Equinor is building the Arkona offshore wind farm together with RWE Renewables.
Photos
The consortium wants to have a feasibility study drawn up for the development of electrolyzers for the production of green hydrogen. / © AquaSector
