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development work done by the fuel cell industry as well as rely on its existing manufacturing capabilities .
“ Our stack is designed and optimised for mass production ,” explains Jan . “ All our components are designed and developed in-house , in close collaboration with our high-quality suppliers around the globe ."
In an ambitious plan to have a fully automated , gigawatt-scale assembly line in place by 2025 , the company has launched a project aimed at developing the best approach to scalable , flexible , and quality-focused stack production . Dubbed ‘ Autostack ,’ the project gathers Hystar engineers and experts from three external partners . Semcon brings valuable experience from fuel cell design
" Our stack is designed and optimised for mass production .”
and manufacturing , Tronrud Engineering brings know-how in advanced engineering , while SINTEF Digital brings a holistic approach to the project , looking at the entirety of the supply chain and bringing expertise on modern manufacturing in high-cost countries .
Containerised electrolyser
Despite being founded just over two years ago , Hystar is already taking orders from customers for its containerised , turnkey electrolyser solution , which is available in two main variants – Vega and Mira . Optimised for high efficiency , Vega has been designed for systems associated with high electricity consumption and costs , such as those found in heavy industry . By contrast , Mira is ideally suited for systems powered by intermittent energy sources and for customers looking to reduce capital investment costs compared to conventional PEM electrolysers . Both variants
Jan Schmidt , project engineer at Hystar
are available in the 1 – 6 MW range , with a lead time of 12 – 18 months .
In March 2022 , the company , in partnership with Equinor and Gassco , launched a three-year project focused on gaining operational experience . In September , the HyPilot project was joined by another partner , Yara Clean Ammonia , the world ’ s largest ammonia distributor . As part of the project , Hystar will design and construct a containerised 1 MW electrolyser with a hydrogen production capacity of up to 500 kg / day . The electrolyser will be installed at Equinor ’ s K-lab facilities , close to the Gassco-operated Kårstø gas processing plant near Stavanger , Norway , and will run for a total of 10,000 hours , starting at the end of 2023 . Being the first in-field installation of Hystar ’ s containerised electrolyser , the HyPilot project will see the system designed to suit variable production loads typically found in wind applications . Less variable production regimes will also be tested to provide data on the performance of Hystar ’ s electrolysers for industrial-scale hydrogen production .
Orion : large-scale , modular solution
Seeing the efforts to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors as the main drivers of future demand
12 Hydrogen Tech World | Issue 7 | December 2022