About
Offshore wind and hydrogen production: several challenges to address
By bringing hydrogen production closer to offshore renewable electricity sources, offshore hydrogen opens new perspectives for France’s offshore wind planification by 2050 and beyond for the decarbonisation. Offshore hydrogen raises a number of fundamental issues: technological choices (electrolysis, compression, transport), safety and standardisation, maritime planning and integration with electricity and gas networks. Finally, evaluating the potential environmental risk associated with offshore hydrogen production is a key point to study.
R&D projects dedicated to hydrogen and offshore wind
Building on the outputs of OPHARM (2021-2023), OPHARM2 JIP (2023-2026) provides decision-makers with information on the volume and timing of annual production, as well as the economic and ecological costs, for different deployment scenarios so that they can build their strategy.
Two systems (centralised and decentralised) for offshore production of hydrogen using electrolysis were specified and designed. As these systems may be floating, a trial campaign was carried out to study the influence of motion on the performance of a PEM electrolyser.
The environmental aspect was also explored with the numerical modelling of the diffusion of produced water discharges linked to the electrolysis process (salinity, temperature and chemical compounds), and the experimental qualification of the potential effect of those pressures on key species of the marine food web.
Webinar resources
A webinar presenting the project’s key findings was held on 6 October 2026. Most of the presentations given are now available.