Announced today (May 23rd), the company aims to reduce emissions within Power-to-X and hard-to-abate sectors such as transport, chemicals, steel, and cement.
Heavy industry is responsible for around 22% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, 6.5 and 7% of which are contributed to through steel and cement production.
Producing Solid Oxide Electrolyser Cells (SOEC) and set to begin operation in 2024, the plant – located in Herning, Denmark – will have an annual capacity of 500 MW (megawatts), with the potential to scale-up to 5 GW (gigawatts).
Electrolysers use electricity to separate water into its constituent components: hydrogen and oxygen.
Mock up of the Topsoe electrolyzer plant
Source: Topsoe
If the electricity is generated through renewable processes, the hydrogen produced is regarded as ‘green’, having not contributed to the emission of CO2.
Topsoe’s project is one of several large-scale green hydrogen projects currently being developed.
To be implemented by the country’s Ministry of Electricity, Egypt is planning a number of such projects, contributing to a target of 4 gigawatts of electrolyser capacity by 2030, producing nearly half a million tonnes of green hydrogen per year.
Stating that Topsoe is ‘willing and able’ to support society’s green ambitions, Roeland Baan, CEO, Topsoe, added, “With our new electrolyser production plant, we lead the way in speeding up commercial-size Power-to-X solutions, and we do it with our highly innovative technology that outmatches technologies currently in the market.”
Currently in advanced discussion with potential partners over future offtake agreements and commitments to reserve capacity, the company also aims for the project to enforce EU’s ambitions of being independent of energy imports from other regions.
Baan added, “The agreement between the EU Commission and the four North Sea countries is an important step in the transition to renewable energy.”
“Our mission as a company is to reduce society’s emissions in 2022 by 12m tonnes of CO2.”
Construction of the plant is slated to begin in the second half of the year, subject to approvals.