The cabinet wants to install the first large-scale green hydrogen production at sea in the North Sea, north of the Wadden Islands. The production location will be located next to two wind farms and should be operational around 2031. The green hydrogen is brought ashore through pipelines.

It was previously announced that two wind farms would be built in the North Sea, above the Dutch Wadden area. This plan is now taking shape by producing hydrogen at sea from wind energy. The wind farm is good for approximately 500 megawatts of electrolysis capacity. Before the tenders are issued for this project, the Ministry is carefully working out a number of important matters together with the Groningen region, parties around the Wadden Sea Region and involved parties. Such as the landing of the pipeline to bring the hydrogen from the wind farm ashore and how hydrogen production can be done safely and in an ecologically responsible manner.

“With this plan, we are a global leader. It is also a big step on top of the target of 4GW electrolysis in 2030 from the Climate Agreement. We have already designated the area as a preferred location so that preparations can start quickly and we provide the sector with clarity so that they can make their investment plans.”

Minister Robert Jetten

Second life natural gas pipelines

The project will be the first project that connects to Gasunie’s offshore hydrogen transport network. This network will bring large quantities of hydrogen ashore and will be connected to the onshore hydrogen network. This year, details of what the offshore hydrogen network should look like will be worked out. The extent to which reuse of existing gas infrastructure in the North Sea is feasible will also be examined.

Preliminary projects

As a stepping stone to this project, work is also underway on a smaller pilot with an electrolysis capacity of approximately 50-100MW. This should remove the first defects from the technology so that the project of 500 MW can be realized efficiently. Later this year, the minister also wants to choose a preferred location for this smaller project