Netherlands plan to produce green hydrogen to cope with grid constraint

• Three major companies from Netherlands are going to turn the Drenthe-based excessive clean power capacity into green hydrogen. The partners are investigating which green power projects can be excluded from electricity grid.

Drenthe is among the three Dutch provinces suffering from insufficient grid capacity for development of green power projects. Onsite power grid has to be reinforced to allow further generation of renewable power. 

NAM, Gasunie and Enexis are planning to use the excessive PV capacity in the north-east of Netherlands for production of hydrogen. They are currently assessing Roswinkel and Emmen as future locations for generation of H. 

The study is meant to find out which conditions are required for feasible conversion of domestic clean energy into hydrogen. Besides, the local gas transmission lines are being checked for possible hydrogen delivery to consumers. 

The research is to define whether it is more feasible to connect electrolyser directly to wind and solar power sources or to power grid. The electrolyser’s capacity is estimated as ranging from 20 up to 50 megawatts. The outcome of the research is expected to be announced in about a month. 

Early this year, it was declared that the Netherlands’ grid capacity available for green power projects was insufficient. This issue required urgent resolution, since large PV generation capacities were planned for development in the country.