French hydrogen producer Lhyfe has inaugurated its offshore renewable green hydrogen production demonstrator in Saint-Nazaire.
The Sealhyfe platform is starting an 18-month experimental period on the offshore testing site (SEM-REV) operated by French engineering school Centrale Nantes. The project marks the first time that hydrogen will be produced at sea.
Producing hydrogen using offshore wind turbines could allow countries with a coastline to access renewable green hydrogen, produced locally and in industrial quantities, to decarbonise transportation and industry.
Through this pilot site, Lhyfe will produce the first kilograms of renewable green hydrogen at quay and then at sea, operating automatically, in the most extreme conditions. The production unit is based on a floating platform, connected to a floating wind turbine.
A first six-month trial phase is being started at quay, in the port of Saint-Nazaire, to obtain initial reference measurements and test all of the systems.
At the end of this first stage, Sealhyfe will spend a period of 12 months off the Atlantic coast. It will be installed less than a kilometre from the floating wind turbine, fixed to the ground by a system of anchors and connected to the site’s underwater hub using an umbilical designed and dedicated for this application (energy and data transfer).
At the end of this trial, Lhyfe will have a substantial volume of data, which should allow it to design mature offshore production systems, and to deploy robust and proven technologies on a large scale, in keeping with the EU’s objective to produce 10 million tonnes a year of renewable hydrogen by 2030.
Sealhyfe has the capacity to produce up to 400 kg of renewable green hydrogen a day, equivalent to 1MW of power.
By 2030-2035, offshore could represent an additional installed capacity of around 3 GW for Lhyfe.
Matthieu Guesné, chairman and CEO and founder of Lhyfe : “At Lhyfe, we have only one aim: to leave a more breathable planet for our children. This is why we once again wanted to take up a major technological challenge, to prove – by producing hydrogen at sea for the first time – that it is possible to do it as of today.
“By paving the way for the mass production of renewable hydrogen at sea, Sealhyfe is fully in line with the EU’s strategy to deploy an offshore hydrogen chain, and wishes to help build the energy sovereignty of countries.”