Source: Energy & Management Powernews, April 01, 2022
The production of electrolyzers for green hydrogen on an industrial scale is to take place at the Berlin site of Siemens Energy. 2023 would be production start in a new plant.
Siemens Energy will locate the industrial production of electrolysis modules in Berlin. The start of production at the site on Huttenstraße in Berlin Moabit is scheduled for 2023. The gigawatt-scale electrolysers will produce green hydrogen from renewable electricity. In Berlin, the infrastructure of an existing hall can be used, as well as the know-how of the current gas turbine production, the company said.
In the coming months, new production lines for the forward-looking technology would be created on about 2,000 m2 for about 30 million euros. The efficient gas turbines currently already manufactured at the site can already be operated with up to 50% hydrogen. By 2030, complete hydrogen operation is to be possible in order to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. In this way, he said, Siemens Energy is supplying an important building block for a safe and successful energy transition.
Series production is a prerequisite for economic viability
Christian Bruch, CEO of Siemens Energy, explained, "With the new production facility for electrolysers, we are helping to make hydrogen competitive more quickly." Hydrogen is an important component of the future energy world, he said. For this sector to become economically viable, the manufacturing costs for electrolyzers would have to be significantly reduced through automated series production.
In the future, the individual electrolysis cells will be manufactured in Berlin and connected to form functional modules known as stacks. These will then be assembled, according to the required output, into larger process engineering units. In Germany, this final step will take place at the Mülheim an der Ruhr site (North Rhine-Westphalia), which is closely linked to the Berlin factory and complements it perfectly.
Decision for PEM electrolysis without chemicals
Siemens Energy relies on so-called PEM electrolysis (Proton Exchange Membrane), in which water is separated into hydrogen and oxygen at a proton-permeable membrane with the help of electricity from renewable energies. According to Siemens Energy, the process is characterized by, among other things, high efficiency, high product gas quality and reliable operation without chemicals or impurities.
The latest and most powerful product line of PEM electrolysis from Siemens Energy is optimized for applications up to the higher three-digit megawatt range, so that systems of this size can produce several tons of green hydrogen per hour. The production of the electrolyzers will be powered 100% by electricity from renewable sources, Siemens Energy announced.
Hydrogen can serve as a storage medium as well as a base material for other applications, such as synthetic fuels. Hydrogen molecules, however, can also be used directly as an energy carrier in electricity and heat generation, which has been powered by gas up to now. In conjunction with a massive expansion of renewable energies, the energy transition to a climate-neutral economy could succeed.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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