Turning talk into terawatts: elevating the electrolyser

World leaders have put their bets on green hydrogen, but in order to scale the global market, improvements in electrolyser technologies will be critical. Here, Harriet Fox-Bekerman, Senior Project Engineer, at the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), considers the opportunities around clean hydrogen growth and the innovation required to turn reverie into reality.  

The hype

Political leaders around the world under pressure to decarbonise their energy sources have published ambitious green hydrogen plans to help their nations meet looming net-zero targets.

At the start of this year, the UK Government announced a £21m ($26.7m) boost to accelerate key low carbon hydrogen projects across Aberdeen, Tees Valley and Suffolk. This followed the government’s selection of 11 green hydrogen production projects, totalling 125MW of capacity, to gain access to a slice of £2bn ($2.5bn) in production subsidies.

In the global race for clean and green, the US Department of Energy (DOE) declared a $750m allocation to significantly reduce the cost of clean hydrogen. This commitment was made to support the advancement of electrolysis technologies that make green hydrogen production possible.

Whilst green hydrogen, touted as the ‘new oil’, is rarely out of the media, turning talk into terawatt hours requires the scaling of existing and new projects. To make this possible, electrolyser technologies need to be more efficient and cost-effective. Without a coordinated effort to do this, is hydrogen all hype?

The hurdles

The challenges of scaling commercially available electrolyser technologies such as PEM and alkaline go beyond economics, although inflation, rising energy costs and political uncertainty haven’t helped matters. Global supply chain delays, a reliance on rare and expensive elements, and manufacturing inefficiencies also create hurdles when it comes to scaling.

The PEM electrolyser for example, relies on platinum and palladium, as well as the extremely rare metal iridium. There is a concern that the production of these electrolysers could become compromised if the supply of these essential minerals is disrupted. A significant spike in demand for these precious metals would drive up their market price.

Another challenge is that electrolyser manufacturers must continue expanding production capacity to allow gigawatt-scale orders to be met, however if capacity outstrips demand, manufacturers face losing money. As a result, we risk manufacturers putting the brakes on electrolyser production which could lead to a shortage of these essential technologies when projects commence, jeopardising the long-term growth of the global green hydrogen market.

You could say it is a chicken or egg situation whereby manufacturers need the assurance that there is a market for their product, but without the product the projects stall. This emphasises the need for governments around the world to not only pledge funding, but to accelerate their current projects and action further clean hydrogen commitments.

The heroes

Many of the nations that have ambitious green hydrogen strategies in place simply have a pipe dream without a scalable version of this technology, and immediate, prioritised innovation is critical.

Given the complexities and uncertainties around how green hydrogen production will be integrated into future energy systems, it is unlikely that we will see one single technology emerge as a clear market winner. Instead, it will be a balancing act of making each as efficient and cost-effective as possible for different use cases.

Bringing down the cost of current models, which includes lowering the reliance on expensive and rare elements that often have to be shipped from overseas and face long delays, will require newer innovations that introduce new approaches to scaling green hydrogen production.

For example, we can expect the use of a modularised electrolyser to rise. This design allows for an integrated process water treatment and an electrical power supply, and therefore offers a plug-and-play solution for scale, removing the need for the purchase and shipping of costly materials from overseas. This innovation could drastically disrupt the market, increase efficiencies and reduce maintenance costs.

The unsung heroes are the developers advancing these innovations. For example, at NZTC we support a range of developers who are focused on green hydrogen production through electrolyser technologies.

This includes Supercritical, a London-based start-up developing the world’s first high pressure electrolyser. Unlike conventional water electrolysers, this approach can produce hydrogen at pressure without gas compression, reducing capital expenditures. The solution is thought to be 30% more efficient than rival technologies when waste heat and renewable power are used, whilst having the potential to cut the cost of hydrogen by 30%.

Another company evolving electrolyser technology is sHYp, who are developing a membrane-less electrolyser technology that uses only sea water to produce chemicals with a 60% reduction in energy and carbon footprint. This is carried out with no desalination, purification, or toxic waste.

By encouraging focused ingenuity through dedicated facilities, new electrolysis methods can be incubated and improvements can be made to mature designs. In doing so, NZTC can speed up product development, enable industrial problem solving and deliver electrolyser efficiency gains, supporting a thriving future hydrogen economy.