The integration of offshore wind assets with green hydrogen production and storage units can offer a much-needed solution for intermittency and curtailment issues of the offshore energy industry. To gain confidence that such novel integrated assets will be fit for purpose, the present study presents a comprehensive risk assessment followed by an action plan to mitigate the identified risks to help facilitate their technology qualification. The new methodology introduced here involves all the life-cycle phases of an offshore green hydrogen production system. Following, prevailing failure modes, their effects, and their causes are identified through an extensive review of relevant literature. Subsequently, risk prioritization is performed by ranking the criticality scores obtained from a multidisciplinary group of experts to the questionnaire designed to reveal the chosen subsystems' technology readiness, degree of change, concern in manufacturing and operation, and potential consequences regarding occupational health, safety, environment, economic and regulatory.
This study investigates the critical parameters necessary for evaluating large-scale renewable offshore energy hubs, based on insights from industry experts. Using a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis methodology, the experts emphasized that, in their view, technical and economic parameters rank higher than environmental and societal considerations when evaluating large-scale renewable offshore projects, including green hydrogen production. Environmental and societal parameters should not be neglected, but they ought to be evaluated outside this assessment framework. This could refer to the environmental impact assessment already in use. These findings provide a foundation for evolving the traditional Triple Bottom Line theory into a Quadruple Bottom Line approach by incorporating technical parameters alongside economic, social, and environmental factors, while addressing the specific challenges of offshore energy hubs. Among all the parameters ranked across the four domains, the top 15 were exclusively techno-economic, with technical and economic scores averaging 4.5 and 4.3 out of 5, respectively. In contrast, societal and environmental scores averaged below 3.0. To ensure the successful deployment of offshore energy hubs, a stepwise approach is recommended to manage complexity, reduce risks, and support scalable solutions. This approach aims to align the needed industrial parameters with the demands of the energy transition.