Image credit: Vattenfall
Vattenfall has been awarded £9.3 million ($11.5 million) in innovation funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 fund by the UK Government.
The funding will be used to develop a hydrogen-producing offshore wind turbine, with the electrolyser sited directly onto an existing operational turbine.
The project is called Hydrogen Turbine 1 (HT1) and aims to be the first project in the world to test the full integration of hydrogen production with an offshore wind turbine.
HT1 will also map out development and consent processes for large-scale hydrogen projects co-located with offshore wind farms to speed up future development.
The pilot project at Vattenfall’s Offshore Wind Farm in Aberdeen Bay will have an output of 8MW and will be able to produce enough hydrogen every day to power a hydrogen bus to travel 24,000 kilometres. The hydrogen will be piped to shore at Aberdeen Harbor.
“We are very happy with the Government funding. Placing hydrogen electrolysers on offshore wind turbines is likely to be the quickest and cheapest way of providing fossil-free hydrogen at scale, said Danielle Lane, UK Country Manager for Vattenfall.
Work will begin immediately with the goal of first production in 2025.
Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 (HySupply 2) competition
£60 million ($74.5 million) in UK government funding has been made available to support companies at the cutting edge of hydrogen innovation.
The funding has been awarded to 28 projects across Scotland, Wales and the north of England, working across a range of different sectors and technologies.
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said in a statement: “The British Energy Security Strategy made clear that we are backing hydrogen not just as a viable source of clean, affordable homegrown energy but as an emerging industry of the future in which the UK can lead the world.
“This funding will accelerate the development of this exciting new industry, helping position us as a hydrogen superpower on the global stage.”
