Siemens Energy and Air Liquide have established a joint venture that will produce large-scale renewable hydrogen electrolysers in Europe.
The companies said the Franco-German partnership will enable the emergence of a sustainable hydrogen economy in Europe and foster a European ecosystem for electrolysis and hydrogen technology.
Series production is expected to begin in the second half of 2023 and ramp-up to an annual production capacity of 3GW by 2025.
Air Liquide will take 25.1%, and Siemens Energy will hold 74.9% of the Berlin-based company, subject to approval by the relevant authorities.
Siemens Energy’s joint venture multi-gigawatt factory that produces electrolysis modules (“stacks”) would be also located in the German capital, as announced earlier this year.
This factory will supply stacks to both groups for their respective broad range of customers and to serve the rapidly growing market.
Based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology, these stacks will feature a high degree of efficiency and are ideally suited to harvest volatile renewable energy.
In addition, Air Liquide and Siemens Energy have agreed to dedicate R&D capacities to the co-development of the next generation of electrolyser technologies within the framework of the partnership.
The strategic partnership will benefit from a portfolio of hydrogen projects combining both Air Liquide and Siemens Energy’s pipelines, targeting large industrial-scale hydrogen projects in collaboration with customers.
This will create a solid basis for the required rapid ramp-up of electrolysis capacities and thus is expected to make competitive renewable hydrogen available sooner.
One of the first projects is the Air Liquide Normand’Hy electrolyser project, with a capacity of 200MW expected in the first phase, located in Normandy, France.
The assembly of the electrolyser systems for this project is planned to be made in France.
“We want to be a driving force in hydrogen technology,” said Christian Bruch, CEO, and president of Siemens Energy.
He added: “To make green hydrogen competitive, we need serially produced, low-cost, scalable electrolysers.
“We also need strong partnerships. Together with Air Liquide as a pioneer in hydrogen for over 50 years, we look forward to implementing innovative solutions and collaborating to shape this new hydrogen market.”
François Jackow, chief executive officer of Air Liquide, said: “By scaling up the production of large scale electrolyzers, Air Liquide and Siemens Energy will be able to provide their customers with access to large amounts of competitive renewable hydrogen and to decarbonize their activities.”
The partners have and will apply for “large projects” funding under the EU’s Innovation Fund, Green Deal, and Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) scheme.