Lhyfe extends partnership for offshore renewable hydrogen production

{Photo: Lhyfe)

Lhyfe, a renewable green hydrogen producer and supplier to transportation and industry, announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chantiers de l’Atlantique - a major shipbuilder and renewable marine energy provider through its Atlantique Offshore Energy business unit - for the development of offshore hydrogen production platforms. The agreement was announced at the Seanergy forum dedicated to renewable offshore energy.

Lhyfe and Chantiers de l’Atlantique had already been working together for 18 months, as part of the SEM-REV project, on the co-development of a pilot system for offshore hydrogen production. In September 2022, they will launch what is described as the “world’s first offshore renewable hydrogen production demonstrator” off the coast of Saint-Nazaire (France).

Following on successful development of this first demonstrator, the companies have chosen to reinforce their partnership to deploy the system on a large scale. Under the latest agreement, they will collaborate on offshore renewable hydrogen production projects with on-grid or off-grid wind farms. The intent is to develop production solutions with a minimum capacity of 100 MW, which will be installed on existing fixed structures or mounted on seabed foundations or floating platforms. Chantiers de l’Atlantique will design, build and install the platforms and Lhyfe will oversee the design and operation of the renewable hydrogen production facilities.

Through its Marine Energy & Engineering business unit, Chantiers de l’Atlantique has successfully delivered four offshore electrical substations for offshore wind farms for major energy companies. Over the last three years, it has worked on the development of offshore hydrogen production to reduce the environmental footprint of its power substations.

Lhyfe currently has 93 production plant projects in development in Europe equating to more than 4.8 GW of total installed capacity. It inaugurated a first industrial production plant in September 2021, and 20 of its projects, representing a total 380.5 MW, are due to be operational between 2023 and 2026. The company is also part of a major research program to develop green hydrogen production at sea and has signed partnerships and developed several offshore concepts related to the program.

In announcing the ongoing partnership between the companies, Frédéric Grizaud, director of the Marine Energy & Engineering Business Unit (AOE), Chantiers de l’Atlantique, stated: “The signing of this agreement is the concrete materialization of a successful collaboration between two companies with a desire to play a full role in energy transition. We are now in a position in France to offer green hydrogen production solutions for the international market.”

“We are delighted to take this new step forward with Chantiers de l’Atlantique. Thanks to the complementarity and solidity of our expertise, and based on our previous achievements, we are now in a position to respond to the various calls for tenders related to offshore,” Thomas Créach, Lhyfe’s technical director, added. “The production of renewable green hydrogen on a very large scale is now within reach.”