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TNO has been working for years on revolutionary electrolysers that make green hydrogen from wind and solar energy much more efficiently and cheaply. But companies that are going to buy them want to test that technology first. That is why TNO has entered into a partnership with
TNO is testing electrolysers that make green hydrogen much more efficiently. | Credit: TNO
From 2.5 to 100 gigawatts
Most hydrogen today is still made from natural gas. This is called gray hydrogen. The necessary energy transition mainly requires green hydrogen. This is made with energy from wind or sun by electrolysers. The global capacity of electrolysers is now about 2.5 gigawatts. In
Radical new design
Now, producing green hydrogen is still two to three times more expensive than gray hydrogen. Large-scale production of green hydrogen therefore requires a completely new type of electrolyser that works more efficiently and cheaply and requires fewer scarce raw materials. TNO, together with a consortium of technical universities and companies, has been working for years on a radically new design with new components and new materials that last longer, the so-called third generation electrolyzers. Back in 2022, TNO reported a breakthrough. It had developed an electrolyser that uses 200 times less iridium. That is an extremely scarce raw material, shortages of which will arise as green hydrogen production is scaled up. TNO is working with extremely thin atomic layers to develop electrolyzers with so-called Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM). Those technologies are being tested in laboratories in Petten and Groningen.
Shortage of testing capacity
TNO gets a lot of requests from companies for stations to test these PEM electrolysers. But the public knowledge institute is not going to build, produce and sell test stations itself. After all, this is a commercial activity.
Meeting need
Avantium R&D Solutions will sell the test units both to producers of electrolysers and to their suppliers. These need them to test the improved technology. Director
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