The Netherlands eyes offshore energy hubs, more floating solar, reuse of gas pipelines for offshore-produced hydrogen by 2050

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK) is now actively looking into the build-out of offshore wind beyond 2030, as well as into offshore energy hubs, offshore hydrogen production and reuse of gas pipelines for hydrogen transport. The EZK is currently working on a comprehensive 2050 plan, the draft of which is expected to be released by the end of next year.

At a workshop held on 29 November during Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam, the EZK presented some of the potential components of the North Sea Energy Infrastructure Plan 2050 (Energie Infrastructuur Plan Noordzee 2050; EIPN), which is currently still at a “first thoughts” stage.

The 2050 infrastructure identified so far includes further offshore wind capacity – which was already announced a few months ago – and possibly further floating solar capacity, as well as offshore hydrogen production and potential reuse of existing gas infrastructure for hydrogen transport.

The Ministry and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) are also exploring the possibilities for interconnections of the electricity and hydrogen transport infrastructure to both the Dutch mainland and to neighboring North Sea countries. Here, the two are also considering offshore energy hubs, either energy islands, or in some other form.

According to Joost Vermeulen from the EZK, the first thoughts on the ambitious plan will be shared by the end of January, or in early February, for market consultation, before the first draft of the EIPN is released by the summer next year.

The draft EIPN is then planned to be concluded by the end of 2023.

“Our Minster set out the vision for the roll-out of offshore wind energy beyond 2030 and one of the first things we need to be working on is infrastructure. We know from experience that planning and permitting of offshore infrastructure takes the longest time. longer than building offshore wind farms”, Joost Vermeulen, Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, said at the workshop on 29 November.

“So it is time to set the wheels in motion now and that is what we are going to do next year with the North Sea Energy Infrastructure Plan”.

The Ministry and RVO have now also issued early information on a tender for supervising and drawing up the EIPN that will be launched in the second half of January 2023. In the notice, there is also a short overview of the infrastructure identified as being part of the energy system beyond 2030 under the plan, as mentioned above.

Under the contract resulting from this upcoming tender, the contracted party’s main objective is outlining a guidance for the government, transmission system operators (TSOs), and market parties on what the further growth of the energy system in the North Sea could look like after 2030. 

The goal of the EIPN is to map out the infrastructure that is needed to connect all the offshore energy to land, not only to the Dutch mainland, but also to other countries and possibly also offshore energy hubs built by other countries.

“This infrastructure plan is part of a larger scheme, so to say, for the entire North Sea where all the different countries are connected to each other. So in building this plan we are also in close contact with neighbouring countries in order to make it a useful plan that is part of a much larger scheme”, Joost Vermeulen said.

Next year, the EZK and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management will start working on designating new offshore wind farm zones that will be auctioned for building offshore wind farms in the period between 2030 and 2040.

Closely connected to this is pinpointing where and how the Netherlands will build offshore energy hubs, after it is determined when their construction is foreseen.

By the end of next year, the EZK expects to know if offshore energy hubs will be planned to be built, and if so, whether they are going to be artificial islands or have some other design, such as platform- or floating-based solutions.

Furthermore, the Ministry and other relevant parties will look at the existing natural gas infrastructure in the North Sea, where there are currently around 150 gas producing platforms, all connected with pipelines that bring the natural gas to shore.

In this regard, the EZK will study what parts of that infrastructure can be reused for a future hydrogen network at sea and what kind of role should, for example, Gasunie as the onshore TSO have offshore, and what roles should there be in place for market parties.