MechChem Africa September-October 2023

⎪ Innovative engineering ⎪

on the platform. • Technology and system optimisation: All the technology has been adapted to operate offshore in extreme conditions and designed to minimise the number of maintenance interventions required at sea. The tests performed at quay allowed Lhyfe to further optimise and improve the technology’s behaviour. • Development of key solutions: Lhyfe also developed the software and algorithm building blocks necessary to manage the site remotely. It will operate fully autonomously, more than 20 km off the coast while connected to the SEM-REV testing site’s subsea hub. Following this first phase, Lhyfe has al ready updated the specifications for all its sites – on- and offshore. All Lhyfe units will therefore benefit from the operating opti misations trialled under this experiment. The start of offshore production Sealhyfe was towed to its SEM-REV offshore testing site on 19 May. It was then connect ed to the site’s subsea hub via a dedicated umbilical cable that was specially designed to produce hydrogen via an electrolyser. The system was restarted and on stream in just 48 hours. Lhyfe will now reproduce all the tests carried out at quay several times to have a direct comparison of at-quay and offshore results. Offshore specific tests have also been added. In achieving reliable offshore production of hydrogen in an isolated environment, the company will develop a unique operating capability, which involves managing the platform’s movement and environmental stresses, and validating green and renewable hydrogen production software and algorithms. Next steps As a logical follow-on to this first stage, Lhyfe recently announced that the HOPE project, which it is coordinating as part of a consortium of nine partners, has been selected by the European Commission under the European Clean Hydrogen Partnership and is being awarded a €20-million grant. By 2030-2035, offshore could represent an additional installed capacity of around 3 GW for Lhyfe.

Sealhyfe moored at the Quai des Frégates, where Lhyfe and its partners undertook a series of start-up tests in preparation for the second phase of the project.

HOPE will be located in the North Sea, off the port of Ostend. 10 MW per day – up to 4.0 t of green H 2 /day – will be produced at sea and then exported ashore via a composite pipeline to supply the needs of the regional ecosystem.

With HOPE, Lhyfe and its partners are aim ing for commercialisation. This large-scale project (10 MW) will be able to produce up to 4.0 t a day of green hydrogen at sea, which will be exported ashore by pipeline, before being compressed and delivered to customers. Through these two pioneering projects in offshore hydrogen production, Lhyfe aims to validate industrial solutions which it will submit in response to future calls for projects from various governments. This will help achieve the target of 10-mil lion tonnes of clean hydrogen produced in the European Union by 2030, set by the European Commission as part of the REPowerEU plan. Sealhyfe has had support from the French energy and environment agency ADEME and the Pays de la Loire Region, and Lhyfe has already signed partnership agree ments with wind turbine developers and offshore power specialists, such as EDPR,

Centrica and Capital Energy. Says Matthieu Guesné, chairman, 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 techno logical 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 en ergy sovereignty in many countries,” he says. Producing hydrogen using offshore wind turbines could give all countries with a coastline access to renewable green hy drogen, which would be produced locally, beyond the horizon line and in industrial quantities. Having taken on this offshore challenge, Lhyfe, has now proved it to be possible. www.lhyfe.com

September-October 2023 • MechChem Africa ¦ 43