Thyssenkrupp expands as demand for industrial electrolysis plants rises

Thyssenkrupp has expanded its manufacturing capacities as response to a rising demand for industrial electrolysis plants that can produce green hydrogen cost-efficiently.

The expansion allows Thyssenkrupp to produce electrolysis cells with a total power consumption of up to one gigawatt annually, together with its strategic supplier and joint venture partner De Nora.

“Many countries around the world are currently planning to enter the hydrogen economy. Water electrolysis is increasingly emerging as a key technology for building a sustainable, flexible energy system and carbon-free industry. This opens up new markets for us.”

Sami Pelkonen, CEO of Thyssenkrupp’s chemical & process technologies business unit.

Green hydrogen, which is produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity, is essential for a successful energy transition and meeting international climate targets. Hydrogen is not only a renewable energy carrier and a fuel, it is also a CO2-neutral feedstock for green chemicals production.

Thyssenkrupp can already realize whole value chains, from large-scale hydrogen processing to the subsequent manufacture of renewable base chemicals such as ammonia and methanol. This allows for dispensing with fossil raw materials in corresponding industrial processes and reducing CO2 emissions directly at source.

“Especially in energy- and resource-intensive industries such as fuel, chemical or steel production, only green hydrogen opens the way to climate neutrality. For this, we need water electrolysis on a gigawatt scale. We can deliver, and as the number and size of hydrogen projects increases we will further expand our production capacities. But one thing is also clear: it won’t work without changed regulatory conditions and fair market opportunities for green hydrogen. In addition to the further expansion of renewable energies, the focus is on adjusting tax systems and crediting the CO2-reducing effect of green hydrogen in the target markets.”

Christoph Noeres, head of energy storage & hydrogen.

To simplify the construction of new hydrogen plants and keep costs down, Thyssenkrupp offers its electrolyzers in prefabricated skid-mounted modules. One module produces 4.000 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour.

The electrolysis cells, equipped with proprietary anodic and cathodic coatings developed by De Nora, allows high system efficiencies of up to 80 percent.