Ørsted drops wind-powered green fuels projects in Denmark

Ørsted said it was withdrawing from the Danish government’s ‘Green Fuels for Denmark’ project as well as a smaller 2MW hydrogen production project called H2RES that planned to demonstrate how offshore wind can be used for green hydrogen production at a site near Copenhagen. 

“The [H2RES] consortium has jointly decided not to continue the project since a sub-scale demonstration plant like this no longer has a relevance in the current market,” said Robert Duncalf, who heads Ørsted’s business development and P2X activities in Europe.  

He added: “The learnings from H2RES will play a key role for the partners in the consortium in the development of future green hydrogen solutions and all parties in the consortium see fundamental potential in green hydrogen and will individually continue to explore opportunities in the area as the market matures.”

H2RES was due to use 7.2MW of offshore wind capacity to power a 2MW electrolyser to produce green hydrogen earmarked for road transport in the greater Copenhagen area.

Alongside Ørsted, the consortium working on H2RES project included green fuel firms Everfuel Europe, Nel Hydrogen, Green Hydrogen Systems, DSV Panalpina, Hydrogen Denmark and Energinet Elsystemansvar. 

A spokesperson for Ørsted told Windpower Monthly the consortium would now be disbanded. 

“As part of this decision the consortium is to be dissolved… Other partners in the project are exploring options for continuing Green Fuels for Denmark,” they said.

Ørsted is also withdrawing from the Oyster green hydrogen project and the first phase of a joint P2X project targeting 150MW electrolysis capacity with Danish firm Skovgaard Energy. 

Meanwhile, Green Fuels for Denmark aims to establish 1.3GW of electrolyser capacity to produce green fuels such as green hydrogen and e-methanol in Denmark for domestic and export use, powered by between 2-3GW of planned North Sea offshore wind capacity.

The green fuels capacity will be built out across several phases including 10MW opening phase scheduled for 2025, rising to 1.3GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030, to be based at the Avedøre combined heat and power station near Copenhagen. 

Green Fuels for Denmark has been linked with wind farms currently under development in Denmark including a 300MW project, which utility Hofor paused last year due to concerns over permitting delays. 

Back in August, Ørsted had also cancelled its planned FlagshipOne project, which was due to use onshore wind turbines to power an electrolyser to produce e-methanol for shipping fuel.

Windpower Monthly understands Ørsted was paid less than 10% of the DKK600 million (around €80.4 million) Green Fuels Denmark was allocated by the EU’s Important Projects of Common European Interest program.