The H2Dock Module
Our clients will deploy their electrolyser stacks or balance of plant equipment to a sea based location using our H2Dock modules which are easily transportable, mountable and retrievable to land when major maintenance or upgrades are required. The modules can be coupled vertically or horizontally to create scalable electrolyser plants. They can be mounted on monopiles, FPSO vessels, floating wind foundations or centralised production hubs.
Production Hub
As an alternative to individual monopiles, H2Dock modules can also be deployed on a central production hub, serving an entire wind farm. An entirely different host but the same standardised H2Dock modules combined with larger spaces for equipment deployed in a non-modular way.
Floating foundation
Similarly, H2Dock modules can be mounted on FPSO vessels or floating foundations as well. This would be especially economical at locations far away from shore, where bringing energy to land as electricity would be cost prohibitive.
READY FOR CHANGE
Electrolysis at sea is new. Initial installation will not be perfect. Maintenance and innovation will be the rule. Nobody, including the H2Dock team, knows exactly which technologies will be used.
But at the same time, there are many knowns. A hydrogen plant at sea needs to be modular, transportable, maintainable, deployable on different foundations, safe, standardised, certified and monitored remotely. H2Dock will take care of these ``knowns`` and allow the ecosystem of electrolyser (stack and balance of plant) suppliers to invent and innovate the hydrogen production process itself and then deploy and exchange modules as required.
Assemble
Removable side caps provide access to extendible skid platforms for easy assembly of electrolyser components.
Mount
Guides and an interlocking docking system allow for forgiving positioning of H2Dock modules on top of or next to each other.
Connect and Control
All connections between modules are made safely from within the container using standardised connectors. Utility functions are provided from a base station to each module through the docking system. The module status can be monitored and controlled remotely.
Maintain or Replace
Frequent maintenance and innovative upgrades will be the norm and will be realised by removing and replacing entire containers, reducing the need for offshore engineers.
THE DOCK
The dock: the “coupling” between modules
BENEFITS
A standardised and certified electrolyser housing at sea, designed to be easily exchanged and maintained on land will result in lower Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH).
Standardisation
H2Dock facilities the standardisation of offshore housing and interfacing of electrolyser stacks and balance of plant across different suppliers. Standards are essential for lowering the cost of hydrogen and to offset the risks of required electrolyser innovation.
Certification
Electrolyser suppliers should be able to focus on core hydrogen production innovation and want peace of mind that assembly, transportation, mounting, connecting, activating, operating and removal of electrolyser plant housing will meet safety and operational standards.
Ready for innovation
H2Dock electrolyser housing is created to allow for the easiest possible way to mount, couple, decouple and dismount modules in order to allow operators to upgrade stacks or balance of plant components whenever this makes commercial sense.
Safety first
Protecting staff, hydrogen equipment and host installations is our primary goal in the design of H2Dock, which is compliant with all safety measures set forth in DNV 2.7-2, the certification standard for offshore service modules.
Lower cost of maintenance
The cost of offshore technicians is a multiple of the same staff on land. The H2Dock philosophy is to be able to decouple and dismount modules for maintenance on land.
Status monitoring and track&tracing
All modules are equipped with sensors and software to remotely monitor and track and trace containers while at subcontractor locations, on vessels, wind turbine foundations or hydrogen production hubs.
FAQ
Got questions? We’ve got answers. If you have additional questions, feel free to send us an email.
What is the life cycle of an H2Dock module?
An H2Dock module will be filled with electrolyser stacks and/or balance of plant equipment by the supplier of such equipment. The module is then transported by truck or train to a dock, where it is loaded on a special vessel which mounts it on its destination at sea, e.g. a monopile, floating wind foundation or hydrogen production hub. It is then coupled to other modules on that location, in order to function as part of a hydrogen plant. Once maintenance is required, the entire module is exchanged for another one and the dismounted unit transported to a land based facility to be repaired or upgraded.
What is and what is not provided as part of an H2Dock module?
An H2Dock module provides the equipment housing (the container), a docking system for coupling to other H2Dock modules, a passage way for human beings to move indoors from one module to another, removable side caps which allow platforms to slide in and out to easily load, unload and access equipment, utilities such as pressured air, ventilation, AC, light, fire extinguishers and sensors to monitor the interior condition as well as software for remote monitoring of the module. Last but not least, standard couplings to connect gas and water pipes as well as electrical cables. H2Dock does not offer any electrolysis equipment. It offers an empty space to build electrolysing equipment as the builder sees fit.
How does an H2Dock module get deployed to and removed from its location at sea?
H2Dock is currently working with specialised offshore crane and motion compensated lifting equipment suppliers to safely and precisely move an H2Dock module from a vessel to a foundation at sea and reversely.
Development offshore electrolysis module
The development of the H2Dock offshore hydrogen production module (standardised offshore housing for electrolysers and Balance of Plant) is for 50% funded by the European Union.
