Currently, Europe is undergoing the first stages of an enormous energy transition looking to decarbonize industrial processes, driven by the binding agreements reached at the COP21 meeting in Paris in 2015 to stop global warming. This new energy paradigm will require a major contribution from renewable hydrogen to be successful. Industries such as steel making, fertilizer production, chemical and petrochemical refining or glass making, already use hydrogen as feedstock or high heat for various ends. However, most of the production processes involve carbon-based energy sources and are highly polluting, contributing abundantly to global GHG emissions. Overall, industry was responsible of over 25% of the GHG emissions in Europe in 2015. The use of renewable hydrogen could reduce 20% of global CO2 emissions by 2050. In Hydrogenics, we have developed HyLYZER, an innovative industrial scale electrolyser, based on PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) technology, that generates on-site clean high purity hydrogen with zero-emissions from renewable energy sources at unmatched efficiency: 85% average at stack level. Our solution's impact in the reduction of GHG emission can be quantified as 1ton of H2 abating 10tons of CO2. We are a global leader provider of hydrogen solutions, with several market products for various ends and a solid reputation in the H2 industry. We have invested 19years of R&D in PEM electrolysis to develop HyLYZER. We aim to carry out a Feasibility Study to plan the best commercial strategy for our project and plan the industrial scale-up required to increase production from demo plant to commercial sales, as well as to confirm the alignment of our project, HyLYZER, with the market needs through strategic partnerships. In five years from project completion, we expect that Hydrogenics HyLYZER project brings us a Return of Investment of €4,56 per euro invested in this project.

Power-to-Gas (PtG) is an innovative energy concept which will help to incorporate flexibility into future energy systems, increasingly characterised by the use of fluctuating renewable electricity. One PtG option, dubbed Power-to Hydrogen (PtH2) is to produce hydrogen from water electrolysis applying cheap renewable electricity in times of surplus and providing it for re-electrification in times of electricity shortages or to other hydrogen end-users, whatever promises the best business opportunities. It has been shown by recent studies that these can be best exploited, if PtH2 simultaneously supplies hydrogen to more than one end-use sector. The combination of electricity and mobility sectors has been earmarked as being specifically relevant, promising high utilization of the electrolysers and hence possible revenues. It is the purpose of the HyBalance project to demonstrate the concept of multi-sectoral hydrogen end-use in the renewable energy friendly environment of wind-rich Denmark at Megawatt scale with a PtH2 plant. A group of partners representing all steps along the renewable electricity to hydrogen to end-use value chain have convened to develop a PtH2 demonstration plant. This plant will be designed for combined operation providing both grid balancing services and hydrogen for industry and as a fuel for transport in the community of Hobro in the Danish province of Nordjylland. The plant will be used to demonstrate its feasibility to identifying potential revenue streams from PtH2 under today’s and future constraints (regulatory environment, state-of-art of key technologies), simultaneously applying most recent developments for hydrogen distribution and storage. Relevant applications in the hydrogen production site’s proximity are: hydrogen refuelling stations for fuel cell cars and buses in Hobro, local industry and, as perspective, hydrogen storage in salt caverns located in Hvornum and Lille Torup.

The Haeolus project will install a 2.5 MW electrolyser in the remote region of Varanger, Norway, inside the Raggovidda wind farm, whose growth is limited by grid bottlenecks. The electrolyser will be based on PEM technology and will be integrated with the wind farm, hydrogen storage and a smaller fuel cell for re-electrification. To maximise relevance to wind farms across the EU and the world, the plant will be operated in multiple emulated configurations (energy storage, mini-grid, fuel production). Like many large wind farms, especially offshore, Raggovidda is difficult to access, in particular in winter: Haeolus will therefore deploy a remote monitoring and control system allowing the system to operate without personnel on site. Maintenance requirements will be minimised by a specially developed diagnostic and prognostic system for the electrolyser and BoP systems. The containerised electrolyser is a standard model carried by project partner Hydrogenics. The integrated system will be housed in a specially erected hall to protect it from the Arctic winter and allow year-round access. The integrated system of electrolyser, fuel cells, and wind farm will be designed for flexibility in demonstration, to allow emulating different operating modes and grid services. Haeolus answers the AWP's challenge with the widest possible project scope, with operation modes not limited to the site's particular needs but extended to all major use cases, and several in-depth analyses (released as public reports) on the business case of electrolysers in wind farms, their impact on energy systems and the environment, and their applicability in a wide range of conditions.