Siemens Gamesa to test ‘island mode’ turbine dedicated to green hydrogen

The company said a pilot project in Denmark will be up and running by January 2021 with the aim of field-testing the technology. The project will serve as a testbed for large-scale, cost-efficient hydrogen production.

As highlighted on numerous occasions by OWJ, offshore windfarms are expected to play a particularly important role in the production of green hydrogen.

As part of the project, Siemens Gamesa has partnered with Everfuel to distribute the green hydrogen the turbine produces. It will be used to fuel taxis across Denmark.

The company said the pilot project “represents a strategic step towards delivering large-scale green hydrogen from the mid-2020s onwards.”

Siemens Gamesa chief executive Andreas Nauen said, “Green hydrogen has the potential to be a game-changer in the quest to decarbonise power and address the climate crisis.

“Our wind turbines are already making a contribution to this effort by providing clean electricity to the grid but, with the storage potential of hydrogen, we can start addressing other industries.”

“Green hydrogen from renewable sources is a 100% sustainable, storable, transportable and versatile fuel,” said the company. “It represents a massive opportunity for the green transition by driving the transformation of the energy system.

“Green hydrogen can be produced anywhere and used in sectors that are very difficult to decarbonise, such as aviation and shipping, as well as heavy industry, such as iron and steel, chemicals and glass. Hydrogen can go a long way to reducing emissions at a national and company level.”

The pilot project at Brande in Denmark will use electricity generated by the wind turbine to power an electrolyser that will take water and turn it into hydrogen and oxygen.

The pilot is already under development and will use a 3-MW Siemens Gamesa wind turbine owned by local partner Uhre Windpower. The turbine will be coupled to a 400-kW electrolyser.

The project is close to obtaining final permits, with the first test runs planned for December 2020 and hydrogen production by January 2021.

The company said the test rig at Brande “will provide insights that will be crucial to scaling up the technology to much larger turbines and windfarms on land and at sea.”