The research project H₂Mare is testing the direct connection between wind energy and hydrogen production. A test facility has been commissioned in Denmark for this purpose. The findings are intended to help optimize and reduce the cost of green hydrogen production at sea.
Offshore hydrogen is the focus of H₂Mare. The reason: At sea, strong and steady winds provide the best conditions for generating renewable electricity. Several projects worldwide are trying to harness this wind for hydrogen production. This could significantly reduce costs compared to land-based production: not only are grid connection costs eliminated, but also energy losses through conversion processes.
For this to work, wind turbines and electrolyzers must be connected as directly as possible. The problem: Even at sea, the wind-supplied power is relatively volatile. A test facility on a megawatt scale now aims to make offshore hydrogen production possible nonetheless.
In Floe, Denmark, the H₂Mare project OffgridWind is now testing the direct coupling of wind turbine and electrolyzer with an onshore facility. There, H₂Mare project partner Siemens Gamesa has connected two electrolyzers to a wind turbine in the way it should happen later on the high seas.
Effects of Volatile Power Supply
In the coming months, the project team will investigate how the fluctuating power production affects the operation of the plant. The engineers also want to test switching between two systems. In addition, the test facility is intended to reveal the feedback effects on the control of electrolysis so that these can be assessed and adjusted if necessary. At sea, this is one of the most critical aspects of the entire operation.
H2Mare has already analyzed what a wind turbine with integrated hydrogen production would look like: In the future, all necessary facilities could be housed on a platform directly at an offshore wind turbine.
H₂Mare is one of three hydrogen flagship projects of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The flagship projects are intended to remove hurdles that still stand in the way of a German hydrogen economy. The H₂Mare flagship project is researching the offshore production of green hydrogen and other power-to-X products. In Chemnitz, it has been operating its own H2 power plant with Fraunhofer IWU since this spring.
