Octopus Energy and BayWa team up for green hydrogen

The companies intend to install electrolyzers and related infrastructure at UK wind and solar projects.

Octopus Energy’s Octopus Hydrogen has announced with BayWa’s BayWa r.e renewables branch that they have signed a green hydrogen production memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The companies will be collaborating on making renewable H2 at several UK clean power sites.

The MoU brings on a strategic partnership that will have Octopus installing electrolyzers, compression, and mobile H2 storage at a number of BayWa r.e. solar and wind projects. The first locations that will be a part of this green hydrogen production will have a capacity for making as much as 6,500 kilograms of renewable H2 per day. The deliveries of the carbon emission-free fuel are expected to begin in 2023.

The production facilities will have a direct connection to the on-site renewable energy. As the electrolyzers will be powered by this clean energy, it means that both the production and use of the H2 made there will be greenhouse gas emission-free. According to Octopus Hydrogen, since the electricity powering the renewable H2 production is a massive factor in the production costs, the concept is favorable because it keeps the power costs down. About 30 to 40 percent of the electricity generated on-site will be consumed by the on-site electrolyzers. The rest of the electricity generated will be fed into the grid.

The on-site green hydrogen production also helps to avoid grid congestion-based renewable energy production curtailment.

Octopus Hydrogen will produce the renewable H2, which will then be stored and distributed to customer sites. This will lead to an “end-to-end hydrogen supply solution.” In this way, it will support local sector decarbonization, such as in the case of commercial transport. The company is already taking part in a number of projects that include providing renewable H2 to ZeroAvia’s Cotswold Airport research and development center. That particular project will deliver some of the first clean H2 to the United Kingdom’s southwest.

“We want to develop and establish a decentralised model for green hydrogen production,” said the company’s CEO Will Rowe. “Our partnership with BayWa r.e. plays an important role by providing excellent renewable sites and the opportunity to share expertise.” He then added about the green hydrogen project that “Our partnership with BayWa r.e. plays an important role by providing excellent renewable sites and the opportunity to share expertise.”