Hydrogen Deep Ocean Link: A Global Sustainable Interconnected Energy Grid

Abstract

The world is undergoing a substantial energy transition with an increasing share of intermittent sources of energy on the grid such as wind and solar, which is increasing the challenges to operate the power grid reliably. An option that has been receiving much focus after the COVID pandemic is the development of a hydrogen economy. The main challenges for a hydrogen economy are the high investment costs involved in compression, storage, and long-distance transportation. This paper analyses an innovative proposal for the creation of hydrogen ocean links, which increased the flexibility for hydrogen production, consumption, compression, storage, and transportation. Hydrogen Deep Ocean Link has the potential of increasing the interconnectivity of different regional energy grids into a global sustainable interconnected energy system.

Keywords: global supergrid, offshore wind power, electrolysis ship, deep sea ocean link, hydrogen transportation