The world’s biggest producer of electricity from turbines at sea, Orsted, is to expand beyond wind power,  using the technology at its Danish demonstration project H2RES to produce green hydrogen.

It’s a significant move and positions Orsted nicely amongst other competition potentially in line for billions of euros of government subsidies as the industry scales up.

Hydrogen made from wind or solar using electrolysis is a fossil free fuel, essential in the eyes of governments and energy companies to eliminate carbon from industrial and transport sectors.

“We see renewable hydrogen and other sustainable fuels as cornerstones in reaching net-zero emissions by 2050,” said Martin Neubert, chief executive officer at Orsted Offshore.

Orsted expects H2RES to be operational this year. That could give the company an advantage for subsidies, demonstrating its ability to manufacture and operate a wind-powered hydrogen production plant successfully.