Electrolyser manufacturer Bloom Energy has started up its largest solid-oxide electrolyser (SOE) to date at the Nasa Ames Research Center in California. The 4MW system is capable of producing 2.4t/d of hydrogen, 20–25pc more hydrogen per MW than equivalent commercial low-temperature electrolysers.

Bloom has previously tested a 100kW SOE at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, where it simulated nuclear power conditions and demonstrated production using 37.7kWh per kg of hydrogen. This pilot produced hydrogen at more than 25pc greater efficiency than low-temperature electrolysers.

Bloom was originally spun off from a Nasa test project in the 2000s to develop a system that could produce oxygen and fuel from solar electricity on Mars that could also act as a fuel cell. The company has deployed more than 1GW of fuel cells and has more than 2GW of manufacturing capacity at plants in California and Delaware.

“SOEs offer inherently superior technology and economic advantages” Sridhar, Bloom

“This demonstration is a major milestone for reaching net-zero goals,” says Bloom CEO KR Sridhar. "Hydrogen will be essential for storing intermittent and curtailed energy and for decarbonising industrial energy use.”

“Commercially viable electrolysers are the key to unlocking the energy storage puzzle, and SOEs offer inherently superior technology and economic advantages,” he adds.

UK-based Ceres Power has claimed that initial testing of a 100kW SOE indicates a similar 25pc efficiency gain compared with lower-temperature technologies and is planning to launch its own 1MW demonstrator project.

But while SOEs can operate at a higher efficiency than proton-exchange-membrane or alkaline electrolysers, they also have high heat requirements, necessitating either high energy input or co-location with sources of waste heat.

Last month, Germany’s Sunfire claimed to have installed the first large-scale SOE, consisting of 12 electrolyser units with a combined 2.6MW of capacity, at Finnish firm Neste’s refinery in Rotterdam. Neste has also announced this week that it has commenced Feed on a 120MW electrolyser project at its Porvoo refinery in Finland, with FID to be taken next year and green hydrogen production potentially ready to start in 2026.

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Author: Polly Martin