French company launched first offshore hydrogen facility

French hydrogen producer Lhyfe has inaugurated the world’s first system for the production of hydrogen from offshore wind turbines. A multi-phase trial will last 18 months.

The SEM-REV pilot platform, operated by Centrale Nantes, will produce the first kilograms of renewable green hydrogen at the quay and then at sea, operating automatically, in the most extreme conditions, Lhyge said and added the production unit is installed on a floating platform, connected to a floating wind turbine.

The production unit was installed on the WAVEGEM wave energy platform developed by Geps Techno. At the end of the quayside test phase, the Sealhyfe platform will integrate the SEM-REV offshore testing system 20 kilometers off the coast from Le Croisic.

The production unit will be supplied with electricity by a pioneering floating wind turbine installed within the offshore test site in 2018

The unit will then be supplied with electricity by a pioneering floating wind turbine, installed within the offshore test site in 2018 and still unique in France, the company said.

The electrolyzer was supplied and optimized for exceptional operating conditions by Plug Power. Together with Plug, Lhyfe has developed the first electrolyzer capable of operating on a floating platform.

Lhyfe expects to be able to design mature offshore production systems, and to deploy robust technologies on a large scale

A first six-month trial phase is being started at the quay in the port of Saint-Nazaire, near France’s first offshore wind power plant, which was inaugurated last week. The unit will obtain initial reference measurements and test all the systems. At the end of the first stage, Sealhyfe will spend a period of 12 months off the Atlantic coast.

It will be installed less than a kilometer from the floating wind turbine, fixed to the ground by a system of anchors, the company said.

After the trial, Lhyfe will have enough data to design mature offshore production systems and deploy robust and proven technologies on a large scale.

Guesné: only one goal – to leave a more breathable planet for our children

Matthieu Guesné, Chairman and CEO and founder of Lhyfe, said the company has only one aim: to leave a more breathable planet for the children.

“This is why we once again wanted to take up a major technological challenge, to prove – by producing hydrogen at sea for the first time – that it is possible to do it as of today,” he said.

Lhyfe, established in 2017, inaugurated its first green hydrogen industrial production site in the second half of 2021. The company currently has a commercial pipeline representing a total production capacity of 9.8 GW by 2030.