HOPE consortium to deploy 10MW North Sea electrolyser

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.

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.