Hydrogen Hub Orkney (H2O) – groundbreaking hydrogen offshore project gets underway

A pioneering, multi-partner project led by The Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC), awarded £500,000 funding for their Hydrogen Offshore Production (HOP) Project – the first of its kind in Scotland – has completed its first phase.

The Hydrogen Supply Competition, funded by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), aims to accelerate the development of low carbon bulk hydrogen supply solutions and invited applications earlier this year. The OGTC-led Hydrogen Offshore Production (HOP) Project was one of only 13 applications successful in receiving a share of BEIS’ £20 million fund.

In a unique collaboration, the OGTC brought together Aquatera, Cranfield University, Doosan Babock, EMEC Hydrogen and NOV to prove the feasibility of several options for decentralised hydrogen generation, storage and distribution that collectively provide a scalable offshore hydrogen production solution. If successful, this would enable bulk hydrogen production using offshore platforms and could offset a portion of decommissioning costs that are currently estimated for all offshore assets and infrastructure.

The Hydrogen Offshore Production (HOP) Project aims to tackle the challenge of bulk hydrogen production by:

  • proposing viable environmental and economic technology solutions
  • developing a new industrial hydrogen production test site to both prove the industrial benefits and to aid commercialisation of emerging technologies
  • marketing and producing the business case for the transformation of existing offshore infrastructure, re-purposing assets and demonstrating the viability of decentralised generation of hydrogen.