Floating wind and hydrogen | World leadership off the Welsh coast

Training cohorts from around the world with Floating Wind and Hydrogen courses focussing on such diverse geographical areas as Japan, The Philippines, South Africa and Brazil in the last year but can not ignore developments with global resonance on my doorstep.

With this in mind, and in the aftermath of two strategic sessions Holistic Network Design and Floating wind for the Celtic Sea last week, I thought the community may welcome and update on Floating Wind and Hydrogen a devolved government commitment to net zero and the Wales Hydrogen Pathway.

The devolved Government has funded phase one and phase two studies to explore the suitability of the Celtic Sea to combine offshore floating wind and hydrogen production.

Wales, like many other places wishes to become a world leader in the hydrogen economy and I have watched as the principality showed a proactive approach to engage with the Crown Estate following earlier consultations in London in which hydrogen was not even mentioned as a trajectory for the UK offshore wind sector

Thursday's publication of Grid's Holistic Network Design indicates the Welsh voice is gaining resonance with a dedicated spur emerging from the key fulcrum of Pembroke Dock

The new floating wind site is under development, approximately 60km off the Pembrokeshire coast, which will aim to produce green hydrogen as opposed to electricity.

Source Energie and ERM Dolphyn are developing a site named ‘Dylan,’ west of Pembrokeshire, aiming to produce the ultra-low carbon fuel of green hydrogen, forming an essential part of a low carbon future.

Both organisations wanted to seize the opportunity provided by the Celtic Sea, and have pounced to develop the site which has a target deployment date of 2027/28.

The site was chosen as it ‘offers good energy generating conditions (more than 10m/s average wind speeds), strong expansion potential, and has several viable low impact routes to areas of existing and growing hydrogen demand.’

Dylan is located approximately 60 km off the Pembrokeshire coast, west of Milford Haven and was identified on the basis of a phased site selection process These included regional resource and constraints analysis and a high-level shipping and navigation review.?

Dylan is based on a platform design that combines wind power, desalination, electrolysis, and hydrogen production on one floating platform. The hydrogen produced by ERM Dolphyn is piped ashore, where it can be used for power generation, transport fuel, industrial use or heating.?

The wider ambition

The location is promising, offering good energy generating conditions (>10m/s average wind speeds), strong expansion potential, and has a number of viable low impact pipeline routes to areas of existing and growing hydrogen demand.

Future expansion could provide more than 2GW of energy, which would provide enough hydrogen to make a material impact on local and national decarbonisation targets, sufficient to heat around one million homes with no carbon emissions at the point of use. The full-scale development would also bring several thousand much needed jobs and training opportunities to the region, through assembly, construction and operation. The proposed cluster (below) provides evidence of this vision.

Steve Matthews, commercial director for ERM Dolphyn added: “Areas of deep water around the UK and Ireland provide great opportunities to generate green hydrogen at scale, and to deliver this carbon free fuel to areas of emerging demand, where it can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels.

'Following on from our projects in Scotland and the North Sea, Dylan is an important additional step, which will help decarbonise areas around the Celtic Sea region, including south Wales.'

The project is supported by the Welsh government smart living initiative, as part of its commitment to developing a national hydrogen economy.

The steel industry is particularly strong in the region and Tata Steel and the South Wales Industrial Cluster?(SWIC)?deployment project, which Tata Steel is a partner in, has been granted phase two funding of nearly ￡20m following successful completion of Phase One assessments looking at decarbonisation schemes and the infrastructure required for a hydrogen economy in South Wales.

Project timelines are tight with a scheduled deployment by 2028 but, the supply chain, as we see from the below image is already preparing, and with a stepped process ensuring a smooth ramp up.

So, two years on from my penning Floating-wind-hydrogen-charley-rattan and, as part of its commitment to net zero and Wales Hydrogen Pathway, the Welsh Government has funded phase two studies to explore the suitability of the Celtic Sea to combine offshore floating wind and hydrogen production.

As for the lyrical name??Well, Dylan Thomas hailed from that part of the world and, of course, a poet of world renown.

Stay informed with the key sectoral stakeholders:?Floating Wind and Hydrogen

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