Haldor Topsoe to build electrolyser manufacturing facility

Topsoe's SOEC-electrolyser delivers more than 90% energy efficiency when using green power to produce hydrogen. Current electrolysers are at 70%.

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 utilisation of renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen, fuels, and chemicals. With Topsoe’s SOEC electrolyser, more than 90% of the renewable electricity that enters the electrolyser 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,” said Roeland Baan, Chief Executive Officer of Haldor Topsoe.

Topsoe is currently one of the global leaders 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 electrolyser technology.

Topsoe is already engaged in several projects to produce green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol, and green fuels. An example is the NEOM-project, 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,” said Amy Hebert, Chief Commercial Officer of Haldor Topsoe.

Facts about Topsoe’s large-scale SOEC manufacturing facility

• The facility will have an electrolyser production capacity of 500 MW per year, expandable to 5 GW.
• Product will be industrial-scale electrolysers 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

• NEOM: Topsoe delivers ammonia technology for the world’s biggest green hydrogen facility being built in Saudi Arabia. The facility will produce 650 tpd 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.

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