Following the 2011 disaster at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan reduced its reliance on nuclear energy and now depends heavily on expensive and imported energy, mainly deriving from finite sources.
A group of students has came up with solution for offshore production, storage and transportation of renewable hydrogen called Jidai.
“We have developed Jidai, a concept representing a new era for hydrogen consumption, as a way of harvesting offshore renewable resources and facilitating a complete value chain of clean energy,” says project manager and student Daniel Jakobsen , a 4th year student at NTNU.
The concept uses floating offshore wind turbines to harvest hydrogen from purified seawater, using a process of electrolysis. The extracted hydrogen is compressed and stored, in readiness for transport by tanker to shore (see technical details below). The project is based on existing technology, and the students have estimated the technology will be cost-efficient by 2030. Although perfect for the deep waters off Japan’s coastline, the system is easily adapted to a number of offshore destinations world-wide.
The concept was developed as part of DNV GL Summer Project 2015. The project ran for seven weeks and was rounded off with a presentation to DNV GL top management and industry partners and Japan’s ambassador to Norway, Toshio Kunikata.