Determining onshore or offshore hydrogen storage for large offshore wind parks: The North Sea Wind Power Hub case

The large-scale integration of renewable energy sources leads to daily and seasonal mismatches between supply and demand and the curtailment of wind power. Hydrogen produced from surplus wind power offers an attractive solution to these challenges. In this paper, we consider a large offshore wind park and analyze the need for hydrogen storage at the onshore and offshore sides of a large transportation pipeline that connects the wind park to the mainland. The results show that the pipeline with line pack storage, though important for day-to-day fluctuations, will not offer sufficient storage capacity to bridge seasonal differences. Furthermore, the results show that if the pipeline is sufficiently sized, additional storage is only needed on one side of the pipeline, which would limit the needed investments. Results show that the policy which determines what part of the wind power is fed into the electricity grid and what part is converted into hydrogen has a significant influence on these seasonal storage needs. Therefore, investment decisions for hydrogen systems should be made by considering both the onshore and offshore storage requirements in combination with electricity transport to the mainland. • Introducing hydrogen to electricity systems reduces peak capacity requirements. • We investigate the seasonal role of hydrogen storage for offshore wind parks. • Volume and capacity requirements were identified for many supply and demand scenarios. • For sufficient pipeline sizes, only onshore storage is required. • Hydrogen and electricity infrastructural decisions should not be made in isolation.