The US offshore wind industry needs to consider the role green hydrogen can play in supporting the rapid development wind projects nationwide.
Business Network for Offshore Wind chief executive Liz Burdock (pictured) told online IPF Livestream delegates today that the industry needs to “have a discussion” about ways combining the two technologies can make offshore wind attractive to more states.
“It makes a lot of sense, especially in geographies where the electricity price is already very low and offshore wind does not make that much sense,” she said.
RWE Renewables offshore wind chief operating officer Sven Utermohlen said the technology could also allow more offshore wind to be built in the US by decoupling future capacity from available grid infrastructure.
Utermohlen pointed to Germany, which has already earmarked 3GW of offshore wind energy to produce the gas as part of its national hydrogen strategy.
“The US needs to think about developing a hydrogen strategy and consider what ways it can use the gas,” he told delegates.
Utermohlen warned that integrated offshore wind and hydrogen projects will likely require significant economic support, especially in the early years.
“Building a hydrogen economy will help decarbonise certain sectors of the economy but you need to incentivise it. A scheme like there was for early offshore wind farms in Europe to support the development of combined offshore wind and hydrogen projects makes sense,” he said.