Our offshore activities

In the Dutch Climate Agreement, it has been agreed that the Dutch energy system will be made more sustainable. Taking sustainability measures will help us cut emissions and mitigate climate change. Wind energy is a good way to do this, but it requires a lot of space, which is why we are building wind farms offshore.

All electricity produced offshore is brought to the mainland through undersea power cables. However, the costs, the space these cables take up and the limited capacity of the onshore grid all make bringing offshore wind energy ashore through cables increasingly difficult. What’s more, we need a solution to make sure that power is also available when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. Hydrogen will play a pivotal role in providing such a solution.

Wind energy can be used to produce green hydrogen offshore, which can then be brought to shore through new or existing pipelines. This is cheaper than laying cables, less energy is lost because the wind turbines do not have to be locked down when the wind is too strong, and this option also offers the possibility of storing hydrogen. Gasunie will soon be responsible for the transport of hydrogen produced offshore and the associated infrastructure, just as it is on land.

Bringing offshore energy to shore, in the form of both electrons and hydrogen, must help us to achieve the climate targets set for the Netherlands. The Dutch government has set upper targets for offshore wind capacity of about 21 GW by around 2030, 50GW by 2040 and 70GW by 2050.

When we talk about HyOne at Gasunie, we mean the entire hydrogen infrastructure network that will soon (between 2030 and 2050) be in operation in the North Sea area. Various projects and programmes are under way to help develop and shape this infrastructure. One programme centres mainly on the undersea pipelines and their landfall points and on the associated installation technology, while other programmes focus on concepts that contribute to the development of new wind power areas. Through these programmes we are helping to shape the energy system in the North Sea while also demonstrating the feasibility of the network.

With the North Sea Wind Power Hub (NSWPH) programme we are investigating how we can generate, collect, connect and convert offshore energy in the future. Aspects we are studying include (1) the use of international power connections, and (2) offshore conversion of electricity into hydrogen (using electrolysis).

The NSWPH consortium’s vision is to collaborate internationally on projects that would see wind farms brought together into offshore energy hubs, which would connect to various North Sea countries through cables and pipelines (‘hubs and spokes’). This is more effective than connecting each new wind farm only to the power grid of the country that owns that wind farm.

The NSWPH consortium was founded in March 2017 and consists of the leading TSOs of the North Sea countries – Energinet, Gasunie and TenneT. NSWPH is furthermore supported by the European Union. The consortium focuses on addressing the key challenges on the way to realising the first hub by the early 2030s and on supporting government bodies and policymakers in their decision-making processes.

Power generated offshore needs to be connected to the onshore power grid. Through the Eemshaven Offshore Wind Energy Connection Programme (PAWOZ in Dutch), the Dutch Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth is exploring possible routes for cables and pipelines going from the offshore wind farms in the North Sea, via the Wadden Sea to their landfall points at the port of Eemshaven (in the province of Groningen). Once onshore, the electricity will be fed into the national high-voltage grid at the port of Eemshaven, and the hydrogen into the Dutch national hydrogen transmission network (Waterstofnetwerk Nederland).

The PAWOZ programme encompasses a vast area of research spanning various interests, such as nature, shipping, agriculture, fisheries, quality of life and the economy. A decision regarding the PAWOZ programme and the choices within the programme is still pending.

The PAWOZ programme started early in 2022 and is expected to conclude in the second quarter of 2025. Once the studies under the PAWOZ programme have concluded, a document will be published detailing the routes that will be used to bring the offshore wind energy ashore. Based on this document and additional information, the Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth will decide which routes can be considered for the short and long term. The intention is that the findings from the studies under the PAWOZ programme will form the basis for the project procedures that will be used for the permitting. TenneT and Gasunie are, as future initiators, partners in this programme.

As with the PAWOZ programme, under the Offshore Wind Landfall Foresight Study (VAWOZ in Dutch) programme, the Dutch Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth is exploring potential connections between offshore wind farms and the onshore energy system. The central question is how and along which routes the energy from the planned offshore wind farms can best be brought ashore.

To answer this question, the programme is exploring alternative cable and pipeline routes in the North Sea as well as landfall points in various regions in the Netherlands, i.e. in the provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant, Limburg and Zeeland. The VAWOZ and PAWOZ programmes differ in that each studies different wind power areas and potential landfall points.

The aim is for the Netherlands to be generating 29 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy between 2031 and 2040. To reach the 29GW target, the VAWOZ programme envisions laying ten undersea power cables of 2GW each and two undersea hydrogen pipelines between the wind farms and the landfall points.

The VAWOZ programme started early in 2023 and is expected to conclude in the second quarter of 2026. Here, too, TenneT and Gasunie are partners in the programme, as envisioned initiators. It is expected that, initially, only one route will be needed for the offshore hydrogen network; it will have to be seen from the findings of the PAWOZ and VAWOZ programmes which route that will be. Possible routes repurposed for hydrogen transmission will be investigated in a separate programme.

For the further roll-out of offshore wind power, the Dutch government, Gasunie and TenneT are focusing on the roll-out of ‘energy hubs’, large-scale wind farms where electricity is generated and where some of this electricity is converted into hydrogen. The electricity and hydrogen are then transported from these hubs to onshore landing points. These hubs can also serve as connection points between various countries.

The first energy hubs are planned in the ‘Ten Noorden van de Wadden’ wind power area (Demo 2) and in the ‘6/7’ wind power area. Together with TenneT and the Dutch government, Gasunie is investigating what these systems should look like and how they can best be incorporated into the available space and the ecology of the North Sea.

The project looks at various aspects, such as how the system should be structured, how the value chain can best be organised, how stakeholder management should be arranged, and how the infrastructure can be integrated spatially. In addition, the project focuses on influencing policy for large-scale offshore hydrogen production and the implementation of such.

The roll-out of offshore hydrogen has reached the development stage. In this context, the Minister of Climate Policy and Green Growth has announced that the roll-out will be given a boost through the start-up of two offshore demonstration projects, Demo 1 and Demo 2.

Demo 1 is an offshore hydrogen production project aiming for a production capacity of up to 50MW. The Minister has announced that he will make subsidies available for this and that he will select a consortium in 2025 to implement the project. It is expected that hydrogen production will start in late 2030. Demo 2 is the next step along the pathway to the large-scale production of offshore hydrogen. An offshore electrolysis project with a capacity of around 500MW will be constructed at the planned Ten Noorden van de Wadden wind farm. It is expected that this will be a first in terms of developing and testing the functionalities of an energy hub. The project is scheduled to be operational in 2033.

Though Gasunie will not play a role in developing hydrogen production through electrolysis, it is closely involved in both Demo projects in the area of developing the infrastructure that will bring hydrogen to shore.