- Industry and research are increasingly relying on wind hydrogen from the North Sea
- New Members include Ørsted, Equinor, and WindMW, as well as the offshore construction company Royal Boskalis Westminster.
Ten partners from the energy and maritime service industries as well as science join AquaVentus. The pressure on politicians and authorities is growing to make the green hydrogen vision possible.
Helgoland / Berlin — Waves don’t always bring positive things these days – but with the AquaVentus initiative, they do. The third wave of expansion strengthens the association, which has now grown to 50 members, in the areas of offshore energy generation and operation, risk management, maritime services, pipe, and steel construction, and artificial intelligence.
“We are still met with great interest from industry, business and science,” says Jörg Singer, chairman of the initiative and mayor of Helgoland. “We are pleased about every new member who supports our plan to build a large-scale hydrogen park in the North Sea by 2035,” said Singer. At the same time, he warns: “The project can only succeed if politicians and authorities make the legal framework suitable for green offshore wind-hydrogen.”
Not only Helgoland should become climate-neutral through the initiative in the energy supply: The goal is to produce up to one million tons of green hydrogen per year in order to make a significant contribution to the decarbonization of Germany and Europe. That requires experienced partners and know-how. Which companies and organizations have recently been supporting the AquaVentus vision?
Drive in the offshore wind sector
Orsted and the energy supplier Equinor have expertise in the field of energy generation at sea. Equinor is one of the world’s largest offshore operators of oil and gas platforms and wind turbines. The utility is expanding its energy portfolio with an additional green component.
Orsted relies entirely on green energy and has already received several awards for its sustainability. The company has been planning, building and operating wind farms at sea and on land and solar parks as well as energy storage and biomass power plants for 30 years. After its commitment to green power generation, the company is now turning its attention to green hydrogen. WindMW also contributes experience in the operation of wind farms in the sea. She built and operates two parks north of the island of Helgoland.
Know-how in steel construction
Building something on sand is literally not a good solution, especially not in salty North Sea water. The engineering company Offshore Wind Technologies (OWT) proves the opposite. With many years of experience in steel construction, she builds offshore systems that are anchored on the seabed and floating wind power foundations. Stable pipes should not be missing. With the company Vallourec, the AquaVentus initiative was able to gain a specialist in the manufacture of seamless steel pipes.
More security through AI, advice and certification
The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), which has received several awards for its research, is one of the leading institutes in this field. It develops intelligent software for monitoring sensors and measuring devices in offshore wind farms and smart robots for maintenance and inspection work on the high seas. The consultants for large-scale construction projects from Buckstay and DNV also guarantee more operational safety. With over 150 years of history, DNV is now a leader in the certification of offshore pipelines and wind turbines and also offers advice and certification in the entire energy sector.
Reinforcement in merchandise management and hydraulic engineering
Karlsson GmbH – the parent company of EnTec Industrial Services – is a specialist in storage, handling and logistics. The company also builds and operates generation infrastructure for the production of hydrogen and synthetic fuels. With the long-established company Royal Boskalis Westminster NV, the AquaVentus initiative was able to win another experienced service provider for maritime services. Together with its subsidiary Boskalis Hirdes, Boskalis is active in the areas of hydraulic engineering, coastal defense and ordnance clearance.
About AquaVentus
The project family around the AquaVentus initiative comprises numerous sub-projects along the value chain from the production of hydrogen in the North Sea to transport to customers on the mainland. These coordinated consortia synchronize demand and generation and thus enable a rapid market ramp-up. The AquaVentus project family includes, for example: the development of offshore wind turbines with integrated hydrogen generation (Aqua-Primus), a large-scale offshore hydrogen park (AquaSector), a central supply pipeline (AquaDuctus), port infrastructures (AquaPortus), a research platform ( AquaCampus) as well as maritime hydrogen-based applications (AquaNavis).
You can find all further information at: http://www.aquaventus.org
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