Helgoland, the offshore industry and green hydrogen
Seite 2: Money is flowing, projects are possible again
As WindMW employee Antje, a native of Helgoland, tells us, after a few years of offshore settlement, the island was actually able to implement projects that had previously lain fallow for a long time. So the community can invest again. Jörg Singer puts the factor at 60, looking at the increase in business tax revenue from wind power for the municipality. Part of the money goes to the state of Schleswig-Holstein, but the municipality of Helgoland is no longer in deficit since the wind power companies landed.
The WindMW site manager also laughs somewhat painedly when he tells us that the local petrol station attendant is also likely to be pleased every day that the wind power industry has settled here. Because in this area, even the wind power industry is still dependent on fossil fuels. If they want to maintain and service their turbines at sea, they use diesel-powered boats.
WindMW is currently examining whether one of its two ships can be converted so that it can be used with hydrogen. However, this would be an idea-driven project and not an economically viable decision at the moment. The stomach ache that some employees have with the constant refuelling, however, should then probably disappear.
Helgoland could now also become a helper for the implementation. After the offshore wind power project has already gone quite well for the municipality, Helgoland now wants to become part of a larger hydrogen project.
Hydrogen project "Aqua Ventus
The municipality is the founder and supporting association member of the large hydrogen project "AquaVentus". Aqua-Ventus wants to realise hydrogen production in the North Sea in interaction with wind power. Thus, 10 gigawatts of installed capacity are to be realised offshore in order to be able to convert the wind energy generated there into green hydrogen. According to the plans of the association, the project should be realised by 2035 and then deliver one million tonnes of green hydrogen per year to the mainland.
But the necessary infrastructure must first be built, explains Mayor Singer. The association has drawn up a clear roadmap for this. The German government would have to continue the National Hydrogen Strategy and set concrete targets for the production and transport of green hydrogen from offshore wind power. For this, the Wind Energy at Sea Act (WindSeeG) would have to be amended again and areas designated for the hydrogen project.
At least 5 gigawatts of offshore capacity for H₂ generation should be the goal here by 2030, including a 10 gigawatt transport pipeline. The 10 gigawatts of offshore capacity that the alliance actually has in mind should then also be made possible by 2035 through cross-border land releases. The transport pipeline is particularly important. Here, the plans for the expansion of a northern European hydrogen pipeline network must be accelerated.
Aqua Ventus, Aqua Portus, Aqua what?
Many different research projects are combined under the label "AquaVentus". For example, all hydrogen activities around Helgoland's southern harbour are bundled under the name "AquaPortus". The development of offshore wind turbines with integrated hydrogen production goes under the name "AquaPrimus", a large-scale offshore hydrogen park under "AquaSector". A central offtake pipeline is called "AquaDuctus" and maritime hydrogen-based applications are called "AquaNavis", as well as a research platform "AquaCampus".
(Bild: Aqua Ventus )
A step backwards for AquaPortus, but TransHyDE goes further
However, initial trials of the interwoven AquaVentus hydrogen projects had to be stopped on Helgoland recently. The AquaPortus project was actually supposed to bind and store green hydrogen, which was to be produced offshore in an electrolysis plant from the AquaPrimus project, on the island in a hydrogenation plant with so-called LOHCs (liquid organic hydrogen carriers). This should make it possible to ship the hydrogen like oil or other fuels using existing infrastructure. In the port of Hamburg, the hydrogen would then be released from the LOHCs in a dehydrogenation plant. For the island, thermal energy from the hydrogenation process could have been obtained in this way.
During the research and development work in the course of 2021, however, it became apparent that "the originally planned hydrogen quantities were not in sync with the quantities actually available", the researchers reported this autumn. So not enough hydrogen arrived on Helgoland for the project to be able to ship it at all. However, there is no doubt about the LOHC system, because "numerous data from the completed studies" have proven "that the innovative LOHC system not only works, but also offers convincing advantages".
AquaCore - Conversion of the heating network
So now - regardless of the termination of this sub-project on Helgoland - the research and development work in the TransHyDE project will continue as planned until 2025. (According to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the TransHyDe project is to develop a hydrogen transport infrastructure. Again, many different projects operate under one big umbrella term).
The path for Helgoland now continues with the "AquaCore" project, explains the association. The aim is to implement a local "direct supply option" on the island to replace oil-based heat generation. The project is being led by Versorgungsbetriebe Helgoland (VBH) and the municipality of Helgoland with the support of Schleswig-Holstein Netz AG.
The green hydrogen produced by AquaPrimus is to be converted into heat by means of hydrogen boilers directly at the Helgoland utility company and fed into the district heating network. The idea is to be implemented by 2026.
The project is dependent on the development and expansion of the other sub-projects AquaPrimus (offshore wind power plant with electrolysis plant) and AquaDuctus (pipeline). Kay Martens, managing director of the utility company, is, however, cheerful: "With this variant, which is currently being investigated, the heat demand could be completely covered with green hydrogen. Heating oil would then finally be a thing of the past at this point."
Drumming for pipeline expansion
Jörg Singer, for his part, is counting on a further push for the construction of a hydrogen pipeline. This is where he sees the greatest potential for hydrogen produced at sea to actually be brought ashore without major losses. According to a calculation for Aqua Ventus, a pipeline would reduce the investments that would otherwise have to be made in conventional grid expansion at sea, such as that implemented by HelWin. The pipeline could also serve as a storage facility, whereas the sheer transmission of electricity on land to then produce hydrogen there would not allow this. This would also reduce the ecological impact.
A further expansion of offshore wind power and also the hydrogen projects could mean for Helgoland that even more employees from the various industries will use the island as their headquarters. Singer explains that a doubling could be expected here, but that this would only happen in a few years.
It is not yet clear whether offshore wind power will upset the island's triad somewhat at this point. But Singer hopes that the island will also continue to develop "green tourism" for itself. However, he is now passing on the baton for these future challenges. He will remain on the island as a resident and will also continue to be involved with Aqua Ventus.
For Helgoland it can be said: The settlement of the offshore industry has obviously been successful. If Helgoland really wants to remain an important part of the large Aqua Ventus project, however, the small island will continue to need strong advocates.
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