Deep Purple Pilot Project for Offshore Green Hydrogen Production
Offshore energy, powered by green hydrogen
Replacing conventional, CO2-producing energy processes with carbon-free solutions represents a promising growth area in the Energy Transition. Taking these solutions offshore, however, poses many technical and commercial challenges.
To drive upstream decarbonization, TechnipFMC applied their expertise as the world’s leading subsea oil and gas systems provider and worked with clients and key partners to develop Deep Purple™, a system that uses wind energy to extract green hydrogen from seawater.
As a flexible energy carrier that can both store and transport energy on an industrial scale, green hydrogen is one of the many alternative energies powering the energy industry’s transition.
Deep Purple™ uniquely integrates proven technologies to deliver at-scale solutions for offshore green hydrogen production and sustainable renewable energy. The system consists of offshore wind turbines and offshore hydrogen technologies for the production, storage and transportation energy in the form of pressurized green hydrogen. It can also be used to produce, store and deliver hydrogen to consumers at sea or exported in a pipeline to shore.
Elements of the Deep Purple™ system include smart production, storage, re-electrification and distribution of green hydrogen enabled by tailored advisory, controls and safety systems.
The Deep Purple pilot consortium is led by TechnipFMC in close cooperation with Vattenfall, Repsol, Slåttland, NEL, UMOE, ABB, DNV-GL, academia (University of South East Norway), and clusters (Energy Valley, Hub for Ocean and GCE Ocean Technology). The 2,5 year project is granted governmental funding from Innovation Norway. In addition to funds, Repsol will contribute with operational data and in-kind support (end user view and technical input).
Repsol: “We are proud to be part of the Deep Purple pilot project that will develop a unique and integrated energy system of offshore renewable hydrogen production in combination with offshore wind. Deploying offshore hydrogen enables harvesting the enormously amount of clean and green energy from the spacious ocean. Designing such advanced autonomous offshore systems at scale, is critical to accelerate the energy transition.”
How it works
One of the key elements to manage wind and wave intermittency is to combine renewable energy with energy storage, making Deep Purple™ a complete, sustainable offshore energy solution.
When the wind is active, wind turbines produce electricity that is delivered directly to the consumer. During periods of excess available power, water is spilt into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis. Fresh water for the electrolysis process is produced from seawater using reverse osmosis. The hydrogen is transported to the seabed, where it is stored under pressure in dedicated tanks. During periods of low or no wind, fuel cells will convert the stored energy back into electricity to satisfy the energy demand.
TechnipFMC’s transferable core competencies, pioneering technologies and large global presence make them the partner-of-choice for carbon-free offshore energy projects.
