Programme
NSE premise is that integrated infrastructure for offshore wind, hydrogen, CO₂, and natural gas unlocks powerful synergies. Benefits deriving from this help Europe shape an energy system that is affordable, secure and sustainble.
Collaboration to gain insights
NSE is characterized by strong cooperation and knowledge sharing amongst the partners. Our partners are a mix of national and international organisations -public and private- joined together by the shared ambition to deliver compelling insights of an integrated approach for offshore energy. NSE is supported by Energy Innovation NL.
Our knowledge and tools support policy makers and investors to make informed decisions for the future offshore energy system. Besides our research work, we also support pilots and projects that test and demonstrate innovative concepts in practice, such as the PosHYdon project.
We deliver insights across five strategic dimensions:
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Affordability and Competitiveness: Integrated offshore energy systems significantly lower transition costs. NSE provides business case insights that help align market design, regulation, and investments.
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Multi-use of Space: Nature- and society-inclusive designing supports multi-use of space and minimizes spatial claims conflicts. NSE provides spatial optimization tools for smart spatial choices and balanced decision-making across sectors.
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Security by Design: A robust and reliable infrastructure, energy safety and security are needed for the physical protection of offshore energy systems. To increase awareness, NSE assesses the physical and cyber resilience of CCS and hydrogen.
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International Collaboration: Alignment of infrastructure, regulation, and investments across North Sea countries accelerates the energy transition. NSE provides a co-created roadmap and drives international collaboration.
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Actionable Tools and Knowledge: NSE translates complex research into practical knowledge and system design tools enabling faster and better-informed decision making. The NSE Atlas offers an interactive comprehensive overview of key activities in the North Sea. Our ESDL-based data repository and IT-toolbox offer energy system simulation and optimization models/tools. The BINDit dissemination tool allows you easy access to research results by compiling a personalized summary of the results based on your own interest.
An Integrated Offshore Energy System
The North Sea has long been central to Europe’s energy supply through oil and gas. Today, it's rapidly transforming into a cornerstone of a carbon-neutral energy system.
NSE positions the North Sea as Europe’s future energy hub — while emphasizing that this transition must be carefully managed to balance energy production, nature conservation, economic interests and infrastructure security. We approach the North Sea area as an integrated system where energy, ecology, and economy are interconnected.
To support policy makers, industry decision makers and energy investors in shaping the European energy transition, we develop concepts, pre-designs, scenario's, strategies and tools, such as:
- Future-proof concepts for offshore energy clusters connecting wind, hydrogen, natural gas, and CO₂ infrastructure across countries.
- Integrated cluster pre-designs for offshore and port-based energy systems to guide offshore energy development towards 2050 and beyond.
- Scenarios, strategies, and digital tools that support policy- and investment decisions.
Work Packages
The NSE workgroups bring together experts from our partners across industry, ports, academia, and engineering to develop knowledge, insights, and practical tools within dedicated work packages.
Working from an integrated perspective, the workgroups combine technical, ecological, economic, legal, and security expertise to address the North Sea's complex energy challenges. Their collaborative approach results in innovative solutions that support offshore system integration, reduce costs and emissions, optimize the use of space, strengthen energy security, and safeguard the marine environment.
Objectives: develop clearly distinguishable 2050 roll-out scenarios for multi-use, with international offshore energy clusters and a strong role for North Sea ports.
Output
- Individual and combined strategic development plans (concepts) for three conceptual offshore energy hubs in the North Sea.
- Technologies and offshore marine energy technologies including wind, solar, wave, tidal options will be defined in an ESDL data repository.
Interaction with other Work Packages
- WP 5 develops the IT toolbox that is necessary to adopt (if needed) the ESDL data repository and develop the designs of the offshore hubs. WP 1 populates the ESDL repository with asset data and applies the toolbox to optimize the design on asset and hub level and simulate energy flows for hub configurations.
- The ecological (environmental) impact of the technologies applied in the designs of the hubs will be studied in the Ecology work package 4 that aims to make the designs nature inclusive.
- WP 1 contributes to specific thematic research in work packages 2, 3, 4 and 6.
Objectives: expand simulations for wind, hydrogen and CO2 transport and storage, and explore offshore interconnections in more detail.
Objectives: place more emphasis on CCS, asses environmental impacts of hydrogen production, and include logistics assets such as port capabilities and vessel fleets.
Objectives: address how regulation can keep up with integrated systems, multi-use and infrastructure re-use in offshore business cases.
Objectives: analyze cyber- and physical risks in hydrogen and CCS value chains and consider threat scenarios that influence public opinion on carbon capture.
Objectives: prioritize a shared data repository, scenario visualization and spatial planning tools for partners. Deliverables:
Objectives: use the roadmap to convey concrete actions to policymakers, highlight international steps and create a shared European understanding of North Sea pathways. Deliverables:
Key Findings
In our reports, we provide insights for:
- the adoption of advanced technologies within nature-inclusive designs
- the reduction of the environmental impact of energy activities
- the sustainable use of natural resources
- economic growth
- energy safety and security through cybersecurity and physical protection measures
- new job opportunities in the energy sector
Based on our research and findings we recommend the following:
Public Impact
Discover how North Sea Energy's research and findings contribute to real life demonstrations and pilots, showing how shared knowledge can move from research into practice.
PosHYdon Pilot
Green hydrogen production at sea
PosHYdon is a Dutch pilot project in the North Sea that demonstrates offshore production of green hydrogen on an existing gas platform. Located off the coast of Scheveningen, it combines offshore wind, hydrogen production, and existing gas infrastructure.
Using electricity from a nearby wind farm, an 1 MW electrolyzer splits treated seawater into hydrogen and oxygen. The green hydrogen is then blended into the natural gas system and transported to shore through existing pipelines.
The project’s main goal is to test whether offshore hydrogen production can become a practical and scalable solution for the future energy system. It also explores how old offshore gas infrastructure can be reused for renewable energy.
The pilot is an initiative of 15 parties, amongst which partners from our programme. NSE is incorporating the lessons learnt from the pilot.
Policy support
NSE results and learnings has supported Dutch and European policy development on Offshore Wind and Hydrogen
Members of the NSE community have participated in international initiatives such as the EPIN (European Policy Institutes Network) review, and the UK House of Lords. They gave input to the Dutch Nota Ruimte, Programma Noordzee, WIN and the Strategic EIA (MER) for wind area 6/7.
Public Events
Turning research into real-world impact.
Each phase of the North Sea Energy programme concludes with a dedicated public event, bringing together a broad network of stakeholders from industry, government, academia, and civil society.
Hosted at inspiring venues across the Netherlands —in 2025 at the EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam— these invitation-only events showcase the latest research outcomes, practical insights, and innovative solutions developed within the programme.
Fostering ideas and collaborations
Where knowledge meets action.
The North Sea Energy (NSE) community has helped create an environment where new ideas and collaborations can grow. By bringing experts together and continuously fostering collaboration, NSE has played an important role in enabling offshore energy development initiatives, such as the electrification of the N05-A platform by One-Dyas.
The platform produces natural gas with virtually no CO2 emissions, as it operates entirely on electricity from the nearby German offshore wind farm Riffgat. Although not directly an NSE spin-off, it was shaped through discussions and knowledge exchange within the NSE network.
Learning community
Spread the word.
Beyond project development, NSE focuses strongly on sharing knowledge with stakeholders — with schools, libraries, policymakers, members of parliament, festivals, and public audiences.
Through this broad outreach of presentations, webinars and dialogues, the NSE community has contributed to greater understanding of the energy transition across society and at the North Sea in particular. Keep an eye on our agenda for upcoming events.
NSE also supports the next generation of experts by enabling many master’s students and PhD researchers to contribute to and benefit from the community’s work.
Stay up to date on the latest news
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