Abstract
To meet climate goals, the Dutch government plans to develop numerous offshore wind farms in the North Sea, aiming for 21 GW by 2031, 50 GW by 2040, and 70 GW by 2050. Due to onshore grid capacity limitations, offshore-produced hydrogen is considered an alternative for energy transport, with tens of GW of hydrogen production facilities expected by 2050. Demo 1 (30-100 MW) is planned for the Hollandse Kust (HK) region, and Demo 2 (500-700 MW) in the North of the Wadden Islands (TNW) region. Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are required before construction. Currently, there is limited experience with offshore hydrogen production, with only two small pilot projects in operation: the PosHYdon project (1 MW) by Neptune Energy and the Baseload Power Hub project (2.5 MW) by Cross Wind (Shell/Eneco). Due to limited experience with offshore hydrogen production, the Ministry of EZK commissioned a pre-study on environmental effects and research methods for central and decentral cases for Demo 1 and 2.
This Preliminary Study on the Environmental Effects of Hydrogen Production at Sea aims to provide an initial insight in to environmental effects, research methods and knowledge gaps for central and distributed cases for the Demo 1 and 2 offshore hydrogen production projects. This report serves as a precursor to an upcoming EIA process; Memorandum of Scope and level of Detail (MSD, NRD in Dutch) and project Environmental Impact Assessments (project MER’s) for the two demonstration projects.
The main research question: What are the relevant environmental effects, related research methods and knowledge gaps, that can occur from hydrogen production at sea in four cases (small and large scale, centralized and decentralized) in TNW and HK region during all lifecycle phases?