Construction Starts on Pilot Green Hydrogen Plant Using Offshore Wind
Construction work is beginning in Denmark on the H2RES renewable hydrogen demonstration project where the power of offshore wind will be used to produce renewable. The project will investigate how to best combine an electrolyzer with the fluctuating power supply from offshore wind.
"The integration of energy from offshore wind into heavy transport is a main challenge in the green transformation,” said Tejs Laustsen Jensen, CEO of Hydrogen Denmark in 2019 discussing the concept for the project. “With H2RES, we'll have the possibility of testing how hydrogen and offshore wind can best complement each other. Both with each other, with the transport sector and the collective energy system. It's a very important step for hydrogen as a key technology in the green transformation."
H2RES will be situated at the Avedøre Power Station, Ørsted's large biomass-fueled CHP plant, in Copenhagen. Using two 3.6 MN offshore wind turbines it will have a capacity of 2 MW. The project is expected to produce its first hydrogen in late 2021 with production of up to 1,000 kg of renewable hydrogen a day. It will be used to fuel zero-emission road transport in the Greater Copenhagen area while the information developed from the plant’s operation will help the companies to explore larger-scale production of renewable hydrogen using electricity generated from offshore wind.
The Danish Minister for Climate, Energy & Utilities, Dan Jørgensen, led the groundbreaking ceremony of the H2RES project, marking the onsite construction start of Ørsted's first renewable hydrogen project.
"H2RES will be a small, but very important first step in realizing Ørsted's large ambitions for renewable hydrogen, which has fast proven itself as a centerpiece in the green transformation of the European economy to net-zero emissions by 2050,” said Anders Nordstrøm, Vice President and Head of Ørsted's hydrogen and PtX activities. “At Ørsted, we believe that renewable hydrogen can become an industrial stronghold of several European economies, including Denmark, while also contributing significantly to bringing down emissions from the hard-to-abate sectors in transport and industry."
The H2RES project is a cooperation between Ørsted, Everfuel Europe, NEL Hydrogen, Green Hydrogen Systems, DSV Panalpina, Hydrogen Denmark, and Energinet Elsystemansvar. The Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program under the Danish Energy Agency previously awarded approximately $5.7 million for the development of the demonstration project.