With plans in place to initially target a 100MW scale, the plant is said to be the first of its kind for the island. Looking beyond this, Petrofac is already looking at the potential for scaling up to 3GW.

The above work is the result of an awarded three-year consultancy framework agreement by H4 Energy, which spans the early engineering phase work for the site.

In addition to the site itself, Petrofac is also evaluating the utilisation of hydrogen carriers, export options, turbine sizing, electrical systems and hazards analysis.

Jonathan Carpenter, Vice-President of New Energy Services at Petrofac, said, “We’re pleased to start study work for this project, the first green hydrogen development on Sakhalin and the first new energy project for Petrofac in Russia.

“The island offers excellent land availability, coastal proximity, and location adjacent to the Eastern Asian Market (only 40km sea crossing to Japan), and we look forward to working with H2TC to deliver its 3GW target”.

Petrofac’s team will undertake its evaluation work in Woking, UK, with support from its team in Sakhalin.