On 17 May, the Danish Minister for Climate, Energy & Utilities, Dan Jørgensen, led the groundbreaking ceremony of the H2RES project, marking the onsite construction start of Ørsted's first renewable hydrogen project.

H2RES will have a capacity of 2 MW and will be situated on Avedøre Holme in Copenhagen. The project will investigate how to best combine an efficient electrolyser with the fluctuating power supply from offshore wind, using Ørsted's two 3.6 MW offshore wind turbines at Avedøre Holme.

The facility will produce up to around 1,000 kg of renewable hydrogen a day, which will be used to fuel zero-emission road transport in Greater Copenhagen and across the danish island Zealand. The project is expected to produce its first hydrogen in late 2021.

'Green Fuels for Denmark'

In less than three years, Ørsted has, with partners, established nine renewable hydrogen projects in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom so far, spanning from demonstration projects like H2RES to industrial-scale visions like the potentially 1,300 MW 'Green Fuels for Denmark' project.

Anders Nordstrøm, Vice President and Head of Ørsted's hydrogen and PtX activities, says:

"H2RES will be a small, but very important first step in realising Ørsted's large ambitions for renewable hydrogen, which has fast proven itself as a centrepiece in the green transformation of the European economy to net-zero emissions by 2050. At Ørsted, we believe that renewable hydrogen can become an industrial stronghold of several European economies, including Denmark, while also contributing significantly to bringing down emissions from the hard-to-abate sectors in transport and industry."

The Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP) under the Danish Energy Agency has previously awarded DKK 34.6 million to the development of the H2RES project to Ørsted, Everfuel Europe A/S, NEL Hydrogen A/S, Green Hydrogen Systems A/S, DSV Panalpina A/S, Hydrogen Denmark, and Energinet Elsystemansvar A/S.

Photo by Martin Lehmann/Politiken