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Nel – extended PEM electrolyzer manufacturing facility in Wallingford officially opened

On Wednesday 23 October, Nel’s extended and automated PEM manufacturing facility in Wallingford, Connecticut, was officially opened by Senator Richard Blumenthal. The new facility will have the capacity to produce 10 times as many PEM electrolysers at 30% lower cost than the old factory.

Senator Richard Blumenthal in his opening speech, said :

Connecticut is a global leader in hydrogen because of companies like Nel,

He continued after he took part in a curtain drop, unveiling the expanded Wallingford facility,

I’m very excited by Nel opening this new facility, because it brings jobs and brains to the energy sector. This is our future. Hydrogen and fuel cells are going to be a vital part of our energy future in order to fight climate change,

Senator Richard Blumenthal, said:

Hydrogen and fuel cells are going to be a vital part of our energy future in order to fight climate change.

Other speakers included Connecticut’s Chief Manufacturing Officer, Paul Lavoie and Sunita Satyapal, Director of the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

Lavoie said,

Automating production facilities is the only way you are going to be able to compete on a global level,

He said,

This isn’t about eliminating people’s jobs. It takes people and upskills them. It allows them to do more rewarding work,

Lower costs to drive increased adoption

With the new and automated manufacturing facility Nel increases its annual capacity to produce PEM electrolysers from 50 to 500 MW.

Nel’s President and CEO Håkon Volldal said today’s challenge for the hydrogen industry is high production costs, and that costs need to be significantly lower to drive increased adoption.

Volldal said,

Developing Next-Generation PEM electrolysers with our technology partner General Motors, we aim to cut costs by another 60% and reduce energy consumption by more than 10 percent,

The facility is expected to be ready to start production in the beginning of 2025.

Chinese OEM Shuangliang claims new benchmark in hydrogen electrolysis performance

Chinese electrolyser original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Shuangliang claims to have set a new industry record for current density in its 5,000Nm3 alkaline system.

When operating at 90oC, the OEM says the electrolyser can reach 10,600A/m2 as a maximum current density, with an energy consumption of 4.7kWh/Nm3.

Higher current density means greater hydrogen production capacity, but maintaining this with low energy consumption is difficult, with most electrolysers operating at lower current densities.

When the current density of the Shuangling system is reduced to 3,000A/m2, energy consumption can be as low as 3.875kWh/Nm3.

Furthermore, the company says the alkaline electrolyser has an operating range of 10-110% of nominal load while keeping the hydrogen content in oxygen to less than 1.5% and reducing the risk of explosion.

This means the electrolyser will be able to adjust to fluctuating renewable energy supply effectively without having to shut down or risk an explosive hydrogen-oxygen gas mixture.

Read more: Geopolitics and quality challenges limit China’s electrolyser market reach

“Looking back at the century-long development history of alkaline water electrolysis hydrogen production technology, Shuangliang is now standing at the most critical historical node,” the OEM stated. In response to user needs, Shuangliang continues to overcome technical barriers, actively carry out technological innovation, and continuously reduce the power consumption per unit of hydrogen production.”

The new electrolyser comes as Western OEMs grapple with rapidly changing geopolitical dynamics in the clean technology space.

Read more:Europe’s hydrogen ambitions tested: Can electrolyser OEMs compete?

Shuangliang’s technological advancements could intensify concerns in the West that China’s rapid innovation and mass production capabilities may allow it to outpace Western electrolyser manufacturers, potentially leading to Chinese dominance in the green hydrogen market.

This, in turn, might erode market share and competitive advantage for Western firms, which have traditionally focused on quality and performance.

https://www.h2-view.com/story/chinese-oem-shuangliang-claims-new-benchmark-in-hydrogen-electrolysis-performance/2116339.article/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Daily%20Hydrogen%20Highlights&utm_content=Daily%20Daily%20Hydrogen%20Highlights+CID_8a58c0022920aa9d9fd9719f6fa7ec5d&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Chinese%20OEM%20Shuangliang%20claims%20new%20benchmark%20in%20hydrogen%20electrolysis%20performance

https://www.h2news.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=13022

The European Commission today selected 85 netzero projects across Europe to receive a total of €4.8bn ($5.2bn) from the EU Innovation Fund — including six clean hydrogen projects.

This includes four green H2 projects — one each in Belgium, France, Finland and Germany — as well as one blue hydrogen facility in Belgium and a waste-to-H2 plant in Sweden.
There were also eight awards for the manufacture of electrolysers or electrolyser parts, which will be detailed in a separate article.
The green hydrogen projects will deliver a total of 61,000 of renewable fuels of nonbiological origin (RFNBOs — the EU term for green hydrogen and its derivatives) annually, “contributing to increase the use and production of renewable energy in hydrogen in hard-to-abate applications in industry and transport”, said the European Commission.

The grant-winning clean-hydrogen projects are:

1) H2HubEmden (Germany)
This green hydrogen and heating project, being developed by Norwegian utility Statkraft, will see a 200MW electrolyser installed at an existing power plant in Emden, with waste heat and large-scale heat pumps used for district heating.
2) H2BE (Belgium)
This 1GW blue hydrogen project, being developed by French utility Engie and Norwegian oil giant Equinor, aims to produce 210,000 tonnes of H2 by 2030 from natural gas using autothermal reforming (ATR) combined with carbon capture and storage. (NB: The EU lists the applicant as Engie subsidiary Electrabel)
3) ENHANCE (European Network for Hydrogen and Ammonia Carbon-Neutral Energy) (Belgium)
No details are available for this Belgian facility, being developed by France’s Air Liquide — the only mention of the project on the internet is from today’s announcement, although the European Commission lists it as involving “RFNBO ammonia and liquefaction of renewable hydrogen”.
It could be a new name for a project announced in March 2023 to import green ammonia and crack it into hydrogen at the Port of Antwerp.
4) HydroGreen (Finland)
This project by Solvay Chemicals will see a 30MW electrolyser installed at its factory in Kouvola to produce green hydrogen for the manufacture of hydrogen peroxide.

5) HYODE (HYdrogen Offshore DunkerquE) (France)
EDF plans to couple offshore wind with an offshore electrolyser to produce of green hydrogen near Dunkirk, northern France.
6) Köping Hydrogen Park (Sweden)
This project, being developed by technology company Plagazi, plans to use a patented plasma gasification system to turn 66,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle waste a year into 12,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually at a plant in the municipality of Köping, central Sweden.

The size of the grants for each of these projects will not be publicly revealed until developers have signed their grant agreements.

ベントレーは、環境への影響を低減する取り組みの一環として、持続可能なeFuel（電気燃料）を使用したグローバルメディア公開イベントを実施した。eFuelは水を電気分解して生成した水素と結合させてメタノールを生成し、それを精製してガソリンとして生成している。今回のイベントでは、eFuelを75％、通常のガソリンを25％混合したブレンドガソリンが使用され、コンチネンタルGTスピードに使用された。また、新型の第4世代コンチネンタルGTのウルトラ・パフォーマンス・ハイブリッド・パワートレインシステムの25.9kWhのバッテリーは現地の水力発電と風力発電による100％再生可能電力を用いて充電されている。これにより、以前のイベントと比較して、車両からのCO2排出量を93％削減することに成功している。

eFuel（電気燃料）は、ハイリー・イノベーティブ・フューエルズ（HIF）社が主導する国際コンソーシアムが開発し、ポルシェ社が支援する完全合成燃料だ。文字通り、チリのマガジャネス地方にあるパイロットプラントで「空気から」生成される。生物由来のCO₂は醸造プロセスから回収され、水を電気分解して生成した水素と結合させてメタノールを生成し、それを精製してガソリンにする仕組みだ。ベントレーのメディア公開イベントで使用されたブレンドは、eFuelを75％、通常のガソリンを25％混合したもので、テールパイプからのCO₂排出量を大幅に削減している。 この燃料はコンチネンタルGTスピードに適用され、25.9kWhのハイブリッドバッテリーは、現地の水力発電と風力発電による100％再生可能電力を用いて充電された。新型の第4世代コンチネンタルGTのウルトラ・パフォーマンス・ハイブリッド・パワートレイン、eFuel、ホテルからの100％再生可能電力の組み合わせにより、以前のイベントと比較して、車両からのCO₂排出量を93％削減することに成功した。 eFuelは合成の液体燃料だ。純粋な再生可能エネルギーから得られた水素と、大気中からろ過できるCO₂（二酸化炭素）から生成される。既存の車両に何の変更を加えることなく使用できるだけでなく、既存の燃料ステーションのインフラストラクチャでも使用できる。また、従来のガソリンと混合することもできる柔軟性を持ち合わせており、CO₂排出量をほぼゼロにするポテンシャルを秘めている。

ベントレーが世界初のeFuel駆動によるグローバルメディアドライブを実現！eFuelと再生可能エネルギーによりCO₂排出量を最大93％削減！（MotorFan） - Yahoo!ニュース