Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2024)

FUTURE FUELS

CSIRO researchers

Dr. Gurpreet Kaur and Dr. Sarb

Giddey with the high temperature furnace for sintering the ceramic tubes.

Image courtesy of CSIRO the thermodynamic limits and the losses related to balance tescue’s new PEM factory in Australia.

of plant. The electrolyzer cost, electricity costs, and scale As a result of all the development underway, DNV predicts are still the major challenges for the large-scale adoption of that electrolyzer costs will drop 25% by 2030 and 50% by hydrogen production via electrolysis for decarbonization of 2050. Another prediction is that electrolyzer capex will drop various energy sectors.” and the market will consolidate mid-term, especially for large-

While SOE technology holds promise for power-to-X ap- scale electrolyzers. This could lead to supply chain optimiza- plications, it has a limited lifetime and its dynamic capabili- tion that could further reduce production costs. ties are currently a barrier to large-scale commercialization, But where? China could disrupt the industry and take the so Denmark’s Dynelectro has developed a novel SOE technol- same commanding market share it has in other industries de- ogy that uses a mix of alternating and direct current and can spite the US pumping money into the industry (Nel and its accommodate ? uctuating green power and temperature varia- partners received around $90 million from the Department of tions. This is expected to increase the lifetime of SOE stacks Energy for seven electrolyzer projects in March). from two to 10 years. While much of China’s electrolyzer production is currently

The scale-up of well-established technology is already satisfying the domestic market, that is likely to change. Bright- underway. Accelera is developing 25MW PEM electrolyzer H Technology recently claimed industry leading energy ef- modules suitable for larger electrolyzer projects (>200MW). ? ciency for its alkaline technology, and Sungrow Hydrogen

The systems will be manufactured in its new US facility and says its latest electrolyzer not only breaks the record of hourly also at another new plant in Spain. hydrogen yield per PEM stack in the Chinese domestic market

Manufacturing speed is also increasing. Air Liquide and but also catches up with advanced international technologies

Siemens Energy of? cially inaugurated their joint venture in a number of key indicators.

gigawatt PEM electrolyzer factory in Berlin last year. The So, the future of electrolyzers may well be found on a test factory leverages robotics for series production, as does For- bench in Hefei.

36 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • June 2024

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