[ industry update ]
Ceres to validate its SOEC technology with Bosch and Linde Engineering Ceres Power Holdings has signed contracts with Linde Engineering and Bosch to start a collaboration to validate the performance , cost , and operational functionality of its SOEC technology . The companies plan to prepare a two-year demonstration of a 1 MW SOEC system , starting in 2024 and to be located at a Bosch site in Stuttgart , Germany . Its aim is to showcase that the technology provides a highly efficient pathway to low-cost green hydrogen , which has a significant role to play in harder-todecarbonise industrial sectors .
Ceres has committed £ 100 million for the development of its SOEC technology . Its first 100 kW electrolyser module is currently on test and initial results are providing confidence that this technology can deliver green hydrogen at < 40 kWh / kg , around 25 % more efficiently than incumbent lower-temperature technologies .
Nel takes FID to expand its production capacity in Connecticut Nel has taken the final investment decision to expand the production capacity at its PEM electrolyser manufacturing facility in Wallingford , Connecticut . The expansion will bring annual production capacity towards 500 MW in 2025 . The investment cost is estimated at approximately NOK 260 million .
“ This is an important milestone for Nel ,” said Håkon Volldal , CEO of Nel . “ With this expansion , we will increase PEM production capacity substantially and simultaneously reduce stack cost and improve stack efficiency .
“ Last year we opened the world ’ s first fully automated alkaline electrolyser plant in Herøya , Norway . Now we will industrialize the PEM platform , and the expansion in Wallingford is an important first step .”
The development of the ~ 500 MW PEM production line will be a substantial contributor to further expansion plans in the US , where developing
a quality production concept is crucial for preparing Nel ’ s planned Gigafactory .
The planned Gigafactory will have a potential of up to ~ 4 GW production capacity , distributed between both PEM and alkaline . Volldal said that the company is considering three attractive options in three different states and that the final decision is to be made shortly .
LONGi launches new generation of alkaline electrolyzers LONGi Hydrogen , a wholly owned subsidiary of China ’ s solar giant LONGi Green Energy Technology , has launched its new generation of alkaline electrolyzers .
Electricity price and energy consumption per unit of hydrogen production are the two variables that contribute to the highest sensitivity of the levelized cost of hydrogen ( LCOH ). The company claims that full-load DC power consumption of alkaline and PEM electrolysers currently is in the range of 4.5 – 4.6 kwh / Nm ³. The full-load DC power consumption of ALK Hi1 can be as low as 4.3 kwh / Nm ³. It is even lower for ALK Hi1 Plus , down to 4.1 kwh / Nm ³, or even as low as 4.0 kwh / Nm ³ when the current density is 2,500 A / m 2 .
This means a comparative reduction of DC power consumption by more than 10 %. According to LONGi , for every 0.1 kwh / Nm ³ reduction in DC power consumption , depending on the number of system utilization hours , the LCOH can be reduced by 1.8 %– 2.2 %, which translates to a reduction of the initial investment of hydrogen production equipment by 10 % to 25 %.
6 Hydrogen Tech World | Issue 9 | April 2023