The Energy Industry is Calling for the Rapid Implementation of the Hybrid Connection of Offshore Electrolysers

As a central network of the hydrogen industry, HYPOS is actively committed to offshore hydrogen production and has co-signed the joint position paper. The network, which is anchored in the Central German chemical triangle, sees offshore electrolysis as an important contribution to a secure and economical supply of green hydrogen.

“Domestic industry urgently needs reliable quantities of green hydrogen as early and as efficiently as possible. Offshore electrolysis offers a key solution for this. It can produce precisely when electricity is particularly cheap and helps to avoid grid bottlenecks. For our users, the integration of hybrid connection concepts into the FEP is therefore not an optional extra, but an industrial policy necessity,” says Axel Klug, Managing Director of HYPOS e.V.

The "Wasserstoffachter" therefore calls for an integrated offshore strategy that takes into account both wind energy and hydrogen production. An optimized combination of electricity and hydrogen infrastructure can lower costs, reduce grid bottlenecks and maximize the efficiency of offshore wind energy, demand other associations in addition to the initiator AquaVentus,.

FEP needs planning security and openness to technology

The area development plan, which is scheduled to enter the further consultation phase in 2026, must therefore be open to all technologies, the associations demand. AquaVentus CEO Jörg Singer puts it like this: “We need to take off our ideological blinkers. The energy sources must not be played off against each other. Neither hasty legislation nor one-sided planning premises should be used to make predetermined decisions that jeopardize the cost-efficient implementation of the energy transition.” Robert Seehawer, Managing Director of AquaVentus, adds: “The best business case for wind power is hydrogen - and vice versa. Hydrogen from the remote areas of the North Sea is the key to completing the energy transition ahead of us. The first step has been taken with the construction of the AquaDuctus pipeline. Now the second step must follow with the designation of areas in the pipeline and offshore hydrogen hubs.”

About the "Wasserstoffachter"

As a joint initiative founded in 2021, the “Wasserstoffachter” is committed to the increased integration of offshore electrolysis into maritime area development planning in order to minimize grid bottlenecks, increase profitability and cost efficiency and adapt the regulatory framework accordingly. In addition to the initiator AquaVentus, the associations BEE, BDEW, BWO, DWV, DVGW, FNB Gas and the agencies EEHH, EESH, Energieküste, SH, HYPOS, WAB, the VDMA association and IG Metall are part of this initiative.

You can read the complete position paper here.