Driven by the opportunities arising from the energy transition and decarbonisation trends, Bekaert and Toshiba Corporation's energy arm, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (Toshiba ESS), are accelerating their growth strategies in renewable energy markets, particularly in green hydrogen production, utilising hydrogen production technology with reduced iridium developed by Toshiba.
Recently, Yves Kerstens, CEO of Bekaert, welcomed Taro Shimada, President and CEO of Toshiba, to the Bekaert Headquarters in Zwevegem, Belgium, and they discussed co-operation opportunities in green hydrogen electrolysis technologies. Bekaert and Toshiba ESS signed a memorandum of understanding to formalise their commitment in developing a partnership by the end of this year.
Bekaert has a leading market position in porous transport layers (PTL), a key component in the MEA of water electrolysers, and has established a global commercial and manufacturing network.
Toshiba ESS is developing membrane electrode assembly (MEAs) for high-performance, large-capacity PEM water electrolysers. Toshiba ESS is proud of its iridium-saving technology, which reduces the amount of iridium, an expensive and rare precious metal, essential for MEA devices to one-tenth, while achieving high water electrolysis performance and durability.
Kerstens commented: “Bekaert has been successfully bringing new technologies to the green hydrogen market in the last few years and has a clear growth strategy for the coming years to meet global demand. We are delighted to be partnering with Toshiba, a prestigious name in many industries, including in renewable energy, and together to accelerate the use of green hydrogen to decarbonise industries globally.”
Shimada added: “Toshiba has been a leader in hydrogen production technologies for many years. The rapidly-growing, global need for green hydrogen is evident and we are therefore excited to be partnering with Bekaert, a technology leader in PTL, to accelerate our talks towards joint development and sales of electrolyser components.”
For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry, read the latest issue of Energy Global magazine.
Energy Global's Autumn 2023 issue
The Autumn 2023 issue of Energy Global hosts an array of technical articles focusing on green hydrogen, wind installation technology, blade monitoring solutions, and more. This issue also features a regional report looking at some key renewables projects in Australia.