Offshore engineering consultancy Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions (GDG) has been appointed to support sustainability consultant ERM in its development of a floating turbine powered hydrogen production system.

According to ERM, the ERM Dolphyn will enable offshore wind resources to contribute to hydrogen production which the firm believes will be critical to meeting future energy needs.

ERM has said that the Dolphyn project brings together the latest floating wind and hydrogen production technologies. The Dolphyn concept employs a modular design, integrating electrolysis and a wind turbine on a moored floating sub-surface structure to produce hydrogen from seawater using wind power as the energy source.

ERM has said that Dolphyn has the potential to supply energy to heat more than 1.5M UK homes with no carbon emissions. The firm has said that the system could be commercially operational by the late 2020s and scaled up to 1GW production by the mid-2030s.

The offshore infrastructure associated with the project will include a pipeline and mooring and anchoring systems for the floating turbine and GDG will provide survey and planning advice for the scheme.

GDG managing director Paul Doherty said: said “Sustainability continues to drive the sector and GDG is ideally placed to support it, particularly with our expertise in floating turbines and its contribution to hydrogen production.”