ExpectedOutcome:
This topic concerns the research and development of much larger cells and stacks for water electrolysers than the current State of the Art (SoA). By upscaling electrolyser cells and stacks, economies of scale can be realised in manufacturing and more compact installations can be achieved when integrating electrolysers into industrial chemical processes, thermal processes and hydrogen hubs. Achieving all of the 2024 KPI targets stated in the SRIA of the Clean Hydrogen JU for low-temperature electrolysers will ease the adoption of renewable hydrogen by existing industrial processes and facilitate the introduction of renewable hydrogen production at scale. Furthermore, the research findings and outcomes at cell, stack and balance of plant level are expected to advance the subsequent deployment of large electrolysers to help satisfy the 2030 target of 40 GW renewable hydrogen electrolysers included in the European Hydrogen Strategy[1] and contribute to speeding up the achievement of key 2030 KPIs specified in the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA.
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Innovations will be delivered with respect to the design and construction of electrolyser cells and stacks, which have considerably larger active areas and operate at higher current densities than the existing SoA;
- The performances of a number of prototype test stacks based on these cells will be assessed in order to establish the viability of building a single stack of nominally 10 MW capacity. This will fill a knowledge gap concerning the feasibility of large cells and stacks and prepare the way for subsequently demonstrating a 10MW electrolyser module (including appropriate balance of plant);
- A techno-economic evaluation should be undertaken of electrolyser systems, of approximately 50-1,000MW scale, comprising assemblies of this electrolyser module for use in identified industrial processes and other large-scale applications.
Project results are expected to help maintain European leadership in the field of electrolysis and contribute to all of the following objectives of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA:
- Develop larger area cells/stacks components with adequate manufacturing quality for high power systems;
- Improve cell design for high performance and increase cell/stack robustness;
- demonstrate that electrolysis technology, when deployed at scale, has the potential to meet cost and performance KPIs;
- reducing electrolyser CAPEX and OPEX;
- Increasing current density;
- Increasing the scale of deployment.
In particular, the developed electrolyser stacks should conform with the 2024 KPI targets of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, corresponding to the type of low-temperature electrolyser technology that is being developed, as per the list below.
- AEL, Electricity consumption @ nominal capacity (kWh/kg) 49, CAPEX €/(kg/d) 1,000, OPEX €/(kg/d)/y 43, Current density (A/cm2) 0.7, Use of critical raw materials as catalysts (mg/W) 0.3;
- PEMEL, Electricity consumption @ nominal capacity (kWh/kg) 52, CAPEX €/(kg/d) 1,550, OPEX €/(kg/d)/y 30, Current density (A/cm2) 2.4, Use of critical raw materials as catalysts (mg/W) 1.25.
Scope:
The application of electrolysers to industrial clusters and hydrogen hubs in order to achieve substantial CO2 savings is inhibited by the present capacities of electrolyser stacks. Hydrogen production could be achieved more cost effectively if larger electrolyser cells and stacks were available. When compared with the current SoA, the development of an electrolyser module of about 10MW, if feasible, would be a considerable step-forward (where a module comprises the least number of stacks and preferably only one stack). However, there are several R&I challenges which first need to be overcome to realise this. Proposals are expected to address the following:
- Scale-up of cell active areas by a factor of at least two, operating at higher current densities and increasing the number of cells per stack, while ensuring durability and performance (mechanically, electrically and in terms of heat and mass transfer) for the envisaged balanced pressure or differential pressure stack;
- Ensure the catalyst and electrode production techniques achieve uniform performance for the required cell areas;
- Develop appropriate production methods and supply chains for larger cell plates and electrodes;
- Establish any technical limits that may restrict the achievable cell size, current density or stack size for a large electrolyser;
- Establish the extent of cost reductions, relative to a SoA stack, when innovating larger cells and stack;
- Ensure a good match between the design of the stack assembly and the power supply unit to minimise energy losses and the overall cost of the electrolyser module;
- Appropriately scale-up of the balance-of-plant while ensuring a compact design for the electrolyser module;
- Minimise weight and footprint to ensure ease of handling and shipping;
- Maximise the overall cost reduction potential by minimising parts count and value engineering;
- Build and test several short stacks, based on large cells, in order to establish the feasibility of subsequently building an electrolyser module of 10MW capacity comprising preferably a single stack;
- Identifying any optimal sizes for larger cells and stacks from scientific, engineering, logistics and economic perspectives.
Activities developing test protocols and procedures for the performance and durability assessment of electrolysers and fuel cell components proposals should foresee a collaboration mechanism with JRC (see section 2.2.4.3 "Collaboration with JRC"), in order to support EU-wide harmonisation. Test activities should adopt the already published EU harmonised testing protocols[2] to benchmark performance and quantify progress at programme level.
Activities are expected to start at TRL 3 and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.
The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2022 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021–2022 which apply mutatis mutandis.
[1]https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/hydrogen_strategy.pdf
[2]https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/knowledge-management/collaboration-jrc-0_en
