Strohm, one of the world's first and leading manufacturers of fully bonded, Thermoplastic Composite Pipe (TCP), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (Siemens Gamesa), a global market leader in offshore wind.
The collaboration will focus on developing hydrogen transfer solutions that improve the decentralised green hydrogen concept, whereby green hydrogen is generated in each wind turbine generator and transported to shore by a subsea pipe infrastructure. In this concept, power cables are replaced by a pipe infrastructure, storing and transferring hydrogen. Siemens Gamesa has a technical advisory role.
Strohm is the market leader in the design and manufacturing of TCP, which is particularly suited for carrying hydrogen offshore and subsea. Produced at its plant in the Netherlands, the corrosion-resistant technology does not fatigue or suffer from issues associated with using steel pipe for hydrogen, such as embrittlement. Manufactured in long spoolable lengths and flexible in nature, the pipe can be pulled directly into the wind turbine generator, quickly and cost-effectively building offshore wind farm infrastructure.
TCP does not require any maintenance and is suitable for over 30 years of operation, lowering the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) to a minimum and enabling the decentralised concept solution.
As a pioneer in the wind industry and leader in offshore wind, Siemens Gamesa has already taken significant steps in shaping the industry and developing the basis for a decentralised offshore solution, that fully integrates an electrolyser into an offshore wind turbine, with clear benefits and value-add potential such as capex reduction, increase of system efficiency, and increase of wind farm uptime.