Construction starts on Ørsted’s first green hydrogen project

Ørsted has started construction of the 2 MW H2RES offshore wind-to-hydrogen project in Denmark, for which the company reached a final investment decision (FID) in January.

With a groundbreaking ceremony held on 17 May and led by Dan Jørgensen, the Danish minister for Climate, Energy & Utilities, Ørsted marked the onsite start of construction of its first green hydrogen project.

The 2 MW H2RES will be built on Ørsted’s premises on Avedøre Holme in Copenhagen, using the company’s two 3.6 MW offshore wind turbines at Avedøre Holme to power hydrogen production, and will investigate how to best combine an efficient electrolyser with the fluctuating power supply from offshore wind.

Ørsted has chosen Denmark-based Green Hydrogen Systems (GHS) as the supplier of electrolysis technology for the demonstration project.

The facility will produce up to around 1,000 kilograms of green hydrogen a day, which will be used to fuel zero-emission road transport in the Greater Copenhagen area and on Zealand.

H2RES is expected to produce its first hydrogen in late 2021.

“H2RES will be a small, but very important first step in realising Ørsted’s large ambitions for renewable hydrogen, which has fast proven itself as a centrepiece in the green transformation of the European economy to net-zero emissions by 2050”, said Anders Nordstrøm, Vice President and Head of Ørsted’s hydrogen and PtX activities.

H2RES is not the only green hydrogen project the offshore wind giant is involved in. Over the past few years, Ørsted has become a part of nine renewable hydrogen projects in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Just recently, the company joined the AquaVentus offshore wind-to-hydrogen project in Germany, which plans to build a comprehensive green hydrogen infrastructure revolving around hydrogen production powered by 10 GW of offshore wind.