Engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald has won a contract from Gasunie to assess the feasibility of an offshore hydrogen network in the Dutch North Sea.

Gasunie is a gas network operator in the Netherlands and northern Germany.

It wants to harness the North Sea to produce enough wind energy and green hydrogen to supply more than half of Europe with carbon-neutral energy by 2050.

The idea is to produce green hydrogen using electricity from offshore wind farms and distribute it with Gasunie’s existing natural gas infrastructure.

The 12-month study will assess the technical and economic feasibility of offshore and onshore hydrogen compressor infrastructure.

Nick Roberts, Mott MacDonald’s business development manager for thermal transition, said: “This pioneering project to decarbonise Europe will greatly contribute towards the aim of increasing the Dutch North Sea’s energy production to 70GW by 2050 and the ultimate goal of climate neutrality within the next 30 years.”