(epbr) With a portfolio of 1.7 GW of onshore wind and solar generation in Brazil, including projects in operation, under construction or authorized, French EDF Renewables, an arm of EDF, is now targeting hybrid projects that combine offshore wind and green hydrogen (H2V) in the country.
“We are very interested and we want our portfolio with hybrid projects (…) Offshore wind and green hydrogen are fully in our strategy in Brazil”, said the company’s emerging business manager, Sylvain Jouhanneau, to the epbr agency.
Globally, the EDF group expects to reach 3 GW in electrolysis capacity by 2030, including the production of green hydrogen (from renewable energies) and pink hydrogen (through nuclear energy).
Here, Jouhanneau says that the idea is to “start with a reasonably sized project, less than 10 MW” of green hydrogen – and, in parallel, prepare the future for megaprojects offshore. The company, however, still does not have a set date to start the investments.
In England, the company already has a pilot project with Hynamics – EDF’s hydrogen investment arm – to supply H2V to a steel mill in the Tesside industrial area.
The project will use electricity from an offshore wind farm and a solar plant, which EDF Renewables UK intends to build close to the steelworks.
Brazil can produce competitive hydrogen
According to the executive, Brazil has a great opportunity to become the world leader in renewable hydrogen. For this, Jouhanneau points out that the country has “to make decisions today and have a good vision to facilitate the extension of the offshore and then open the doors to renewable hydrogen”.
He believes in two markets for hydrogen in the country: heavy industry and mobility (sea and trucks).
Looking at exports, Jouhanneau assesses that, in addition to offshore wind, a mix of solar and onshore wind power — renewables that are already mature and competitive in the country — could lower the costs of Brazilian green hydrogen. Electricity accounts for about 80% of the cost of producing H2V.
“This would facilitate the offering of solutions to optimize these sources and supply the electrolysers in a competitive way, since electricity represents a very high cost (…) Green hydrogen from Brazil could have a very competitive price for export, to Europe, the United States , Africa and even Asia”.
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