The international provider of testing, inspection, and certification services, TÜV SÜD, has joined the AquaVentus consortium as a member, supporting this lighthouse project of German offshore hydrogen production.
The European Union and Germany have set the target of becoming climate neutral by 2050. As a storage medium for energy from renewable sources, hydrogen will play a central role in the transformation of energy supply, TÜV SÜD said.
The AquaVentus initiative aims to make a substantial contribution to said transformation. Planned to provide 10 GW of production capacity by 2035, the initiative has the objective of producing up to one million tonnes of green hydrogen in the German North Sea.
Around 90 organisations have joined forces the AquaVentus consortium, working together to put these plans into practice.
”AquaVentus is an immensely exciting initiative, and we are eager to be actively involved in its realisation,” said Reiner Block , CEO Division Industry Service at TÜV SÜD.
”TÜV SÜD has a clear focus on sustainability and offers a host of services for all stages of the transformation and decarbonisation process.”
AquaVentus comprises numerous sub-projects along the value chain from the production of hydrogen in the North Sea to transport to customers on the mainland. The projects include the development of offshore wind farms with integrated hydrogen generation ( AquaPrimus ), a large-scale offshore hydrogen park (AquaSector), a central supply pipeline ( AquaDuctus ), port infrastructures (AquaPortus), a research platform (AquaCampus), and hydrogen-based maritime applications (AquaNavis).
Under the first sub-project, AquaPrimus, the development consortium plans to install two 14 MW wind turbines, each with an electrolyser plant on its foundation platform. The wind turbines would be installed off Heligoland by 2025.
The AquaVentus project was launched in 2020 by some of the biggest players in offshore wind, including RWE, Shell, Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, Parkwind, Vattenfall, and Northland Power.
The project’s offshore wind farms, with a total capacity of 10 GW, would be built between the Heligoland island and the Dogger Bank sandbank by 2035, and the electricity they generate would be used to produce hydrogen at offshore electrolysis plants.
From there, hydrogen would be transported to Heligoland and further to the German mainland via the AquaDuctus pipeline system. Some of the hydrogen stored at the AquaPortus in the Heligoland outer port would be used to power vessels.
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