Led by France’s Lhyfe, the HOPE (Hydrogen Offshore Production for Europe) project will aim to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of offshore H2 production. It is also claimed to be the first offshore hydrogen project that will deliver the fuel ashore via pipeline, ready for use in the industrial region around the Belgian port of Ostend, as well as parts of northern France and the southern Netherlands within a 300km radius.
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Water from the project will be harvested from the North Sea before being desalinated and purified, with electrolysis powered by green energy secured through PPAs (power purchase agreements). The hydrogen will be exported via a flexible thermoplastic composite pipeline over a kilometre long that has been technically certified for this specific use.
Delivered by the European Commission as part of its European Clean Hydrogen Partnership, the HOPE grant comes just days after Lhyfe announced that the first kilos of hydrogen have been produced by SeaLhyfe. That pathfinder project saw a 1MW offshore electrolyser paired with a floating wind and wave energy platform, operating autonomously around 20km off the French coast in the Bay of Biscay.
“We are extremely proud to be the first in the world to produce hydrogen at sea,” said Matthieu Guesné, founder and CEO of Lhyfe.
“This has been our wish since the launch of the company and we continue to move very quickly on offshore, which for us represents a tremendous development opportunity for mass producing hydrogen and decarbonising industry and transport. We are continuing to build on the successes we have had so far, firstly to prove to the world that transition is possible today, and of course to accelerate it.”
The grant awarded by the European Commission covers a period of five years. This includes three years to develop the demonstrator, and then two years to demonstrate the technical reliability and commercial viability of the model. The first hydrogen is expected to be produced in 2026. A target has been set by the European Commission of 10Mt of clean hydrogen produced across the EU by 2030.
List of partners and respective roles:
- Lhyfe (France): Engineering, equipment procurement, works supervision, operation, optimisation of the overall production, export and distribution system, project coordination.
- Plug (the Netherlands): Supply and engineering of the 10MW electrolyser.
- EDP NEW (Portugal): Contribution to the optimisation of operations and impact analysis. Steering of techno-economic studies for large-scale developments.
- POM West-Vlaanderen (Belgium): Project implementation support in the testing area (studies, permits) and analysis of the social, economic and environmental impacts of the project.
- CEA (France): Optimisation of operations via digital simulation.
- Strohm (the Netherlands): Supply of the subsea flexible thermoplastic composite pipeline (TCP).
- Alfa Laval (Denmark): Supply of the seawater treatment system.
- DWR eco (Germany): Communication and dissemination of project results throughout Europe.
- ERM - Element Energy (France): Coordination support.
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