More and more countries and companies are becoming convinced of the need to convert part of the sustainably generated electricity into hydrogen in the future. This is done via electrolysis, in which electricity and water together form the gaseous hydrogen. When the wind blows hard and the supply of green energy exceeds the demand, wind energy does not have to be dumped on the market at negative prices. In the event of a shortage of sustainable electricity, hydrogen could be converted back into electricity.
Currently, the transport costs of the electricity generated by offshore wind farms are still a relatively small part of the total costs. In the Netherlands, the government lays the electricity cables and transformer platforms at sea through grid operator Tennet. If the wind farms are located far out in the North Sea, the costs quickly add up: the distance then becomes too great for alternating current connections, and the wind farms have to be connected to land via expensive direct current connections. Offshore production of hydrogen could avoid some of those costs.
Hydrogen is also seen as an alternative to natural gas, as a fuel for industry that operates at high temperatures. There are already concrete plans for hydrogen factories in Eemshaven in Groningen, on Maasvlakte 2 in Rotterdam and in Zeeland. Companies such as Shell, the Danish energy company Orsted and the German energy companies RWE and Uniper want to realize these plans in the Netherlands before 2030.
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