Ballard supplying 1 MW fuel cell system for wind project

Ballard Power Systems will supply a fuel cell system for the CrossWind offshore wind project, a joint venture between Shell and Eneco.

Hollandse Kust Noord Wind Farm Site is located around 18.5 km off the coast of the province of North Holland. CrossWind will install 69 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 11 MW, the majority of which will be situated over 1 km from each other. Ballard Power Systems will supply a fuel cell system for the project. (Image: CrossWind).

The Ballard fuel cell system will be integrated in the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind project, located off the coast of the Netherlands. It will have a capacity of 759 MW to generate at least 3.3 TWh per year. 

CrossWind intends to use various new technologies to manage intermittent wind power generation, including the use of water electrolysis to convert wind power into green hydrogen for energy storage. Ballard’s hydrogen fuel cells will utilize green hydrogen as fuel to regenerate stable and dispatchable power.

Ballard will supply a containerized fuel cell power solution incorporating the company’s FCwave fuel cell modules that will deliver a peak power capacity of 1 MW. Delivery of the customized container system is expected in 2024. This is Ballard’s second stationary power project deployed in Europe for peak shaving power generation applications.

Ballard is packaging its FCwave fuel cell modules in a customized contaner for the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind project located off the coast of the Netherlands. (Photo: Ballard)

“This project is an exciting proof point on how hydrogen and PEM fuel cells can provide an effective storage, load-following and firming solution for intermittent renewables. We are excited to be a part of this milestone demonstration project with CrossWind to prove out the reliability and efficiency of Ballard fuel cells, initially at megawatt scale,” said Søren Østergaard Hansen, General Manager, Marine and Stationary, Ballard Power Systems Europe A/S.

Maria Kalogera, Crosswind’s Innovation Manager commented, “In CrossWind, we are committed to demonstrate baseload power on a megawatt scale for a single full-scale wind turbine generator. We will introduce, for the first time, an offshore combination of battery storage and round-trip hydrogen integrated in an offshore wind farm. It’s exciting to have Ballard on board and integrate their fuel cell solutions in our project.”