Haldor Topsoe to build large-scale SOEC electrolyzer manufacturing facility to meet customer needs for green hydrogen production

With the new facility, Topsoe will accommodate the rapidly increasing demand for competitive electrolysis technology, predominantly for green hydrogen plants based on renewable electricity. Development of the automated manufacturing facility, that will be the largest of its kind, is ongoing. Construction will commence in 2022 in order for the facility to be operational by 2023.“This new manufacturing facility is a concrete step to take a leading role in the ongoing energy transition towards a low carbon future. We strongly believe that one of the most viable routes to this goal lies in the efficient utilization of renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen, fuels, and chemicals. With Topsoe’s SOEC electrolyzer, more than 90% of the renewable electricity that enters the electrolyzer is preserved in the green hydrogen it produces. This is significantly more efficient than the other available technologies in the market. Topsoe already has a number of technologies and several others under development that will ensure that the company will play a leading role in the energy transition, reducing carbon emissions world-wide. The decision to build this large-scale production of our SOEC technology shows that we are willing and able to translate our ambition into reality,” says Roeland Baan, CEO of Haldor Topsoe.

• Topsoe will invest in a manufacturing facility producing highly efficient solid oxide electrolyzers (SOEC) with a total capacity of 500 megawatt per year with the option to expand to 5 gigawatt per year.
• With efficiencies above 90%, Topsoe’s proprietary SOEC electrolyzers offer superior performance in electrolysis of water into hydrogen, when compared to today’s standard alkaline or PEM electrolyzers.

Topsoe is currently a global leader in hydrogen technology, catalysts, and services that enable efficient production of hydrogen. Offerings include technologies for traditional natural-gas-based hydrogen production with the option of carbon capture, also known as blue hydrogen, as well as green hydrogen with the SOEC electrolyzer technology.

Topsoe is already engaged in several projects to produce green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol, and green fuels. An example is the Helios project in NEOM, Saudi Arabia, announced in July 2020, which includes the world’s largest ammonia loop delivered by Topsoe. With the SOEC technology and decades of experience as a world-leading technology provider within ammonia, methanol, gasoline, jet-fuel, diesel, and hydrogen, Topsoe is one of the very few companies that can deliver insights and technology along the entire value chain for next-generation fuels and chemicals.

“Our unique end-to-end offering within green hydrogen production by electrolysis and the associated downstream production of ammonia, methanol, and e-fuels offers customers high-value products, safe transportation, and energy-efficient storage, and we are already talking with potential customers who are interested in being first movers in this space,” says Amy Hebert, Chief Commercial Officer of Haldor Topsoe.

Facts about Topsoe’s large-scale SOEC manufacturing facility

• The facility will have an electrolyzer production capacity of 500 MW per year, expandable to 5GW
• Product will be industrial-scale electrolyzers based on Topsoe’s proprietary high-temperature electrolysis SOEC technology offering 30% larger hydrogen output compared to standard technology such as PEM and alkaline electrolysis.
• Operational by 2023.

Selected projects with Topsoe’s technology

• Helios project in NEOM, Saudi Arabia; Topsoe delivers ammonia technology for the world’s biggest green hydrogen facility being built in Saudi Arabia. The facility will produce 650 ton/day of carbon-free hydrogen to power trucks and busses.
• DeLille; first commercial operation of Topsoe’s SOEC technology converting CO₂ into CO. Start-up is expected in the first half of 2021.
• Green Fuels for Denmark; a partnership of Danish companies that will establish green hydrogen production in the Greater Copenhagen Area. Topsoe contributes with know-how about technologies that convert captured CO₂ into sustainable methanol and jet fuel using hydrogen from electrolysis of water.
• Green ammonia facility in Esbjerg; Europe’s largest green ammonia production facility to deliver green fuel for the shipping industry and green fertilizer for agricultural purposes.
• Green methanol facilities in Scandinavia; as member of a Power-to-X consortium led by Liquid Wind, Topsoe will produce eMethanol on a commercial scale based on green hydrogen and CO₂ capture from waste incineration.

Source: Haldor Topsoe, press release, 2021-03-04.