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Experts agree that wind provides an opportunity to achieve firmer capacity as will be required for green hydrogen production While offshore wind-to-hydrogen development in Africa is still regarded as a longer-term renewable energy segment from an output perspective, research developments in Europe and China, coupled with growing investor interest in countries across the continent, could prove to be a catalytic springboard for this nascent industry. ESI Africa reports. Danish scientist Poul la Cour is widely credited for building a wind turbine to generate electricity in 1891, which was then used to produce hydrogen via electrolysis for experiments and lighting. 134 years later La Cour’s ingenuity has laid the foundation for 21st century technology looking to harness wind power for the mass production of hydrogen (H2) to provide electricity, renewable heat, power long-haul transport, shipping and aviation. “Hydrogen can enable renewables to provide an even greater contribution. It has the potential to help with variable output from renewables, like solar photovoltaics and wind, whose availability is not always well matched with demand.” Europe progresses in the offshore wind-to-hydrogen development charge In a first, during September 2024, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, funders of the hydrogen lead project H2Mare, announced the successful connection of a wind turbine to two electrolysers. The Ministry said that this makes it possible to produce hydrogen directly at offshore facilities. They explained that at sea, strong and steady winds provide optimal conditions for generating renewable electricity. If this electricity could be used directly to produce green hydrogen, it could significantly reduce costs compared to hydrogen production on land. “This is because it would eliminate not only the costs of a complex grid connection but also the energy losses resulting from additional conversion processes.” The €100 million (around $109 million) funding for the project was secured in 2021 by Siemens Gamesa. The Ministry said to practically test the direct coupling and its effects, the H2Mare project set up a corresponding facility – initially on land – in Flø, Denmark. There, Siemens Gamesa connected the two electrolysers for hydrogen production to the wind turbine in the same way it is intended to be done offshore in the future. With this setup, the project team can also test the switching between two systems. “To achieve this, however, the wind turbine and the electrolyser for hydrogen production must be connected electrically as directly as possible. This sounds simple in theory, but in practice, it is highly complex. “The fluctuating power supply as the basis of the entire subsequent conversion process, including water treatment and the control coordination of the system, are among the greatest challenges for the development engineers,” explained the H2Mare project team. This is exactly what is now happening for the first time in a pilot facility on a megawatt scale. H2Mare is one of three hydrogen lead projects of the Ministry and has, since September 2024, examined how the fluctuating power production affects the functioning of the facility. “H2Mare has also already analysed what a wind turbine with integrated hydrogen production would look like: in the future, all necessary systems could be housed on a platform directly at an offshore wind turbine,” the team advised. |
