Gasunie Joins Dutch Offshore Hydrogen Pilot

North Sea-focused Neptune Energy has teamed up with Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie at its pilot project to produce hydrogen at one of its platforms, it said on April 20.

The PosHYdon project, backed by Dutch industry and science organisations, aims to install a 1-MW electrolyser at Neptune's Q13 platform off the Netherlands that will produce hydrogen. This hydrogen will be delivered to a second platform nearby, where it will be used for power generation. The electrolyser will be powered with wind energy.

Gasunie is the latest company to sign up to the initiative, following the earlier entry of the Netherlands' Nogat and Noordgastransport, which own pipelines and infrastructure that can be repurposed for hydrogen.

"We are very pleased to welcome Gasunie as a partner. Gasunie is already working hard to accelerate the energy transition, including several hydrogen pilots on land, and have the necessary knowledge and experience with electrolysis in-house," Neptune's managing director in the Netherlands, Lex de Groot, said.

Neptune has a 50% interest in Q13a, while its partners EBN and Taqa Offshore have 40% and 10% respectively. The PosHYdon project is due to play a key role in Neptune's drive to reduce its carbon and methane intensity substantially over the next decade.