ABB has signed an agreement with HydrogenPro, a hydrogen plant company, to supply electrical equipment for the world’s largest single stack high-pressure alkaline electrolyzer – a system that generates hydrogen by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity.
The system will be capable of producing 1,100 normal cubic metres of green hydrogen per hour (Nm3/h) when it is deployed in 2022 at a specially built test facility in Herya, Norway.
Since 1975, demand for hydrogen has more than tripled and continues to rise, so scaling up technologies and lowering production costs are critical to enabling hydrogen to become widely used. With electricity accounting for roughly 70-90 percent of the cost of green hydrogen production, achieving a high level of efficiency is critical to lowering production costs.
The scope of ABB will include an integrated electrical package consisting of transformers, rectifiers, DC Chokes, and Busbars. Hydrogen is very energy intensive to produce sustainably – everything in the production process, every little component adds a little bit of inefficiency, so this integrated portfolio approach will ensure that every single, possible efficiency improvement is made.
The validation program will include rigorous testing to determine how the electrolyser’s performance criteria and efficiency can be optimized. This will allow HydrogenPro to improve the electrolyser system further before introducing similar technology on a long-term, large scale at similar facilities around the world.
“It was essential for us to work with a trusted, specialist partner to validate our technology and ensure optimum operational performance before we roll-out large-scale, global production, which will be key to future customer adoption,” said Karoline Aafoss, Sales Manager at HydrogenPro. “ABB’s portfolio of integrated electrification solutions will complement our world-class electrolyser technology to create the optimum green production model of the future.”
This collaboration comes after a two-year partnership with HydrogenPro and is ABB’s first green hydrogen order in Norway.
This program for scaling and testing hydrogen technology in order to achieve global decarbonization goals will pave the way for the future launch of large green hydrogen plants, which will be critical in reducing global CO2 emissions.
“In this decade alone, low carbon hydrogen demand will double – and by 2050, it will make up almost a fifth of all global energy demand. Our collective challenge is to produce enough to meet the demand, at a much lower cost,” said Brandon Spencer, President of ABB Energy Industries. “As an industry, we have a responsibility and commitment to explore how we can unleash the full environmental and economic potential of hydrogen, which has huge potential in helping to reach our climate goals. We are especially proud to be partnering with HydrogenPro on this important project.”
The goal is to have the testing completed by the beginning of the summer of 2022.
