OCEAN-H2 is a fundamental-research project that aims to address the diverse challenges of offshore hydrogen production across Europe’s key sea basins: Mediterranean, North Sea, and Baltic Sea. These regions present varied environmental conditions, such as deep waters, fluctuating weather patterns, and seasonal ice, which influence the design and implementation of Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) solutions. By leveraging tailored technologies for each basin, OCEAN-H2 aims to optimize hydrogen production while ensuring system resilience and efficiency across different marine environments.

The strategies for ORE and hydrogen are still evolving and necessitate further efforts at EU and national levels, including in research and innovation. Hence, OCEAN-H2 unites five European partners with complementary expertise: UM (Malta), RISE (Sweden), ISIT (Germany), UNINA (Italy) and UTBM (France). OCEAN-H2 focuses on large-scale offshore green hydrogen production from ORE as a promising pathway for sustainable energy solutions. Compact, modular seawater electrolysis integrated into offshore microgrids for green hydrogen production where ORE, energy storage systems, and electrolysers are interconnected through power electronic converters in a Multi Terminal Direct Current (MTDC) network. Furthermore, MTDC allows connection to an LNG terminal, increasing energy availability, depending on actual local objectives and costs. The hydrogen produced from seawater can be used for ancillary grid services or exported for other applications.