Denmark – Topsoe will invest in a manufacturing facility producing highly efficient solid oxide electrolyzers (SOEC) with a total capacity of 500 megawatt per year with the option to expand to 5 gigawatt per year.
With efficiencies above 90%, Topsoe’s proprietary SOEC electrolyzers offer superior performance in electrolysis of water into hydrogen, when compared to today’s standard alkaline or PEM electrolyzers. The facility is expected to be operational by 2023.
High operating temperature
The Solid oxide electrolyzers (SOEC) technology holds the best promise for a wider adoption thanks to unrivaled energy conversion efficiencies. The high operating temperature of SOECs gives rise to the two main advantages over competing alkaline and polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers: more favorable thermodynamics and faster kinetics. It is also essential that the SOEC technology is based on scalable production methods and abundant raw materials such as nickel, zirconia, and steel,” says Rainer Küngas, Principal Scientist at Topsoe.
The SOEC technology can be thermally integrated with a range of chemical synthesis processes enabling the efficient production of future fuels such as methanol and ammonia. Green ammonia, for example, can be produced from air, water, and renewable electricity and become a highly attractive fuel for decarbonizing the maritime sector.
Largest of its kind
With the new facility, Topsoe will accommodate the rapidly increasing demand for competitive electrolysis technology, predominantly for green hydrogen plants based on renewable electricity. Development of the automated manufacturing facility, that will be the largest of its kind, is ongoing. Construction will commence in 2022 in order for the facility to be operational by 2023.
Roeland Baan, CEO of Haldor Topsoe: ‘This new manufacturing facility is a concrete step to take a leading role in the ongoing energy transition towards a low carbon future. We strongly believe that one of the most viable routes to this goal lies in the efficient utilization of renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen, fuels, and chemicals. With Topsoe’s SOEC electrolyzer, more than 90% of the renewable electricity that enters the electrolyzer is preserved in the green hydrogen it produces. This is significantly more efficient than the other available technologies in the market.’
