French green hydrogen company Lhyfe SA (EPA:LHYFE) and UK energy services company Centrica PLC (LON:CNA) will partner on the development of offshore green hydrogen in the UK, according to an announcement today.
Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the companies will work together on a pilot project in the Southern North Sea to demonstrate an end-to-end hydrogen production, storage and distribution system.
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Lhyfe and Centrica will also explore deploying the technology at commercial scale in conjunction with offshore wind farms. Combining green hydrogen production with offshore wind generation is expected to become increasingly important for the UK’s energy mix, the companies noted.
“Offshore electrolysis coupled with hydrogen storage will maximise the huge potential of offshore wind around the UK,” commented Lhyfe UK and Ireland country manager Colin Brown.
Martin Scargill, managing director of Centrica Storage, said that the company’s long-term ambition is Rough, its gas storage site under the North Sea, to become the world’s largest hydrogen store with up to 16 TWh of storage capacity.
DNV recently highlighted the potential of offshore hydrogen production in a study commissioned by German gas pipeline operator Gascade and Belgium-based energy infrastructure group Fluxys.