Topsoe plant promises 30% efficiency boost for green hydrogen

The catalysis and chemical engineering firm Topsoe has cut the ribbon on a manufacturing plant for solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs), an emerging technology for electrolytic hydrogen production. The project is a vote of confidence in the long-term prospects for green hydrogen, despite recent sobering developments in the market. The 23,000 m3 site in Herning, Denmark, is starting with the capacity to produce 500 MW worth of SOECs per year and has room to scale up to 1.5 GW as demand increases. It cost around $345 million to build and received $103 million in support from the European Union. Kim Hedegaard, a Topsoe executive, said on a call with reporters that the cells are 20–30% more energy efficient than incumbent green hydrogen equipment, which uses alkaline or proton-exchange membranes to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. “The technology that that we have designed and developed operates at around 800 °C,” Hedegaard said, compared with 70–90 °C for the incumbent cells. “That's the fundamental difference and where you get two-thirds of your efficiency gain.”That enhanced efficiency saves operational costs, Hedegaard said, but it also means the customer doesn’t have to spend as much on supporting power generation equipment. “Read that in the context of not only 30% less electricity, it's also 30% less generation of renewable energy,” he said. “So, 30% less solar panels, 30% less infrastructure, 30% less wind turbines.”Reducing the need for supporting infrastructure will be key to the adoption of SOECs, says Alexander Koukoulas, a cleantech expert at