Consortium secures €5m funding for combined wind and hydrogen project

A consortium made up of ITM Power, Ørsted, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, and Element Energy has been awarded €5m (£3.7m) in EU funding to support the development of a combined wind turbine and electrolyser system.The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH2-JU), a public private partnership of the European Commission, has awarded funding for the consortium to investigate the feasibility and potential of combining an offshore wind turbine directly with an electrolyser and transporting renewable hydrogen to shore.The consortium will develop and test a megawatt-scale fully marinised electrolyser in a shoreside pilot trial, with the project coordinated by Element Energy.The project is planned to start in 2021 and run to the end of 2024.ITM Power is responsible for the development of the electrolyser system and the electrolyser trials, while Ørsted will lead the offshore deployment analysis, the feasibility study of future physical offshore electrolyser deployments, and support ITM Power in the design of the electrolyser system for marinisation and testing. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Element Energy are providing technical and project expertise.