An electrolyser gigafactory has been inaugurated in Germany by Siemens Energy and Air Liquide.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Siemens Energy chief executive Christian Bruch and the chief executive of French joint venture partner Air Liquide Francois Jackow pushed the start button for the series production of electrolysers.
Among the guests at the event were also German Economics Minister Robert Habeck, French Industry Minister Roland Lescure and other high-ranking political representatives of the two countries.
With the new factory, Siemens Energy is making electrolysers a mass product, laying the foundation for the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy the company said.
The factory in Berlin will have an annual production capacity of 1GW, which Siemens Energy and Air Liquide expect to ramp to at least 3GW by 2025 with potential for more.
With installed electrolysis capacity of 3GW, an average of 300,000 metric tons of green hydrogen can be produced per year.
Bruch said: “There is no energy transition without green molecules.
“With today’s opening and the start of gigawatt-scale production of electrolysers, we are launching the next step for the commercialisation of this vital technology.
“Now we need to agree on a viable business model with a balanced risk and reward profile to turn the smallest molecule into a big success story.”
At the Siemens Energy site in Berlin the complete infrastructure of an existing production facility and its experienced workforce can be used.
New production lines for the electrolysers were set up on 2000 square metres at a cost of around €30m.
The new factory will supply stacks – the heart of electrolysers – for a wide range of customers, serving the fast-growing market.
These stacks are based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology.
Once produced, the assembly of the hardware to be implemented in electrolyser projects will be carried closer to the project sites, contributing further to the cost effectiveness of the solution.
In Europe, a number of low-carbon and renewable large-scale hydrogen projects are already under development.
Near Port-Jérôme, France, the Air Liquide Normand’Hy 200MW electrolyser project is under construction and will be one of the first to be supplied from Siemens Energy’s new factory in the framework of the joint venture between Air Liquide and Siemens Energy.
Siemens Energy is also supplying several other large-scale electrolyser projects, such as in Kassø (Denmark) or FlagshipONE (Sweden), which will provide hydrogen for the synthesis of efuels for shipping.