[ industry update ]
First demonstrator of green H 2 storage in salt cavern inaugurated HyPSTER , the first renewable hydrogen storage demonstrator in a salt cavern , was inaugurated on 15 September in Etrez , France . The project paves the way for the creation of an industrialscale renewable hydrogen storage sector and technical and economic replicability to other sites in Europe .
Launched in January 2021 , HyPSTER is moving to the implementation stage , to produce and store hydrogen at the Etrez site . On the production side , a 1 MW electrolyser will generate 400 kg of hydrogen per day . On the storage side , test operations will begin in the EZ53 cavity . This will be followed by around a hundred cycles of hydrogen pressure variation over three months , with no inflow or outflow of hydrogen . These tests will confirm the feasibility of storing hydrogen with safety standards similar to those that have been in place for natural gas for over 70 years . At the end of these test cycles , the hydrogen will be extracted and analysed to ensure the quality of the gas in the cavern .
After this experimental stage , the scale will change in 2024 : hydrogen production and storage will gradually amplify , until the salt cavern ’ s full capacity is used up in 2026 , i . e ., almost 50 tonnes . This will enable the supply of the region ’ s industrial players and hydrogen filling stations .
EVoLOH begins outfitting electrolyzer manufacturing plant EVoLOH has announced that it has leased an existing industrial facility in Lowell , Massachusetts , and has begun outfitting its Manufacturing Center of Excellence to produce EVoLOH ’ s anion exchange membrane ( AEM ) electrolyzer stacks for producing green hydrogen .
The Lowell plant will house a single line of EVoLOH ' s highspeed manufacturing process , with an annual capacity of up to 3.75 GW for electrolyzers . Limited manufacturing is set to commence in 2024 , with fullscale manufacturing scheduled for 2025 . EVoLOH is currently engaged in multiple negotiations for additional manufacturing plants worldwide . A second plant is planned to break ground in 2026 , with an annual capacity of 15 GW for electrolyzer stacks .
Scott Blanchet , COO of EVoLOH , commented : “ It is fitting that Lowell , the cradle of American industrialization , should be the location of a manufacturing renaissance for green energy technology . At Lowell , we will be able to manufacture three times the electrolysis power in one-fifth of the space that our competitors require and at a fraction of the cost . The proprietary design used in EVoLOH ’ s NautilusTM series stacks was created for high-speed manufacturing .”
8 Hydrogen Tech World | Issue 12 | October 2023