UK-based fuel cell technology firm Ceres Power will invest £100mn ($134mn) in developing electrolysis technology over the next few years as the firm looks to leverage its solid oxide fuel cell expertise in hydrogen production technology.

Earlier this year, Ceres raised £181mn from investors to expand its business, consolidating its position in fuel cells and accelerating activity in key new areas such as electrolysis for green hydrogen.

The firm is now engaging in commercial dialogues around the first demonstration projects for its electrolysis solid oxide electrolysis technology with a view to developing a number of pilot projects.

“The thing that’s absolutely core is to produce hydrogen at low cost,” Ceres chief innovation officer Mark Selby tells Hydrogen Economist. “People who can monetise that most readily are people who sell hydrogen industrially—so we have a particular interest in industrial partners.”

Ceres’ growth strategy in fuel cells has been driven by licensing its technology to partners who manufacture the cells, stacks and systems, principally German engineering firm Bosch, Korean conglomerate Doosan and Chinese engine manufacturer Weichai.

Unlike polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysers—which required very different technologies for fuel cells and electrolysers—solid oxide fuel cells and solid oxide electrolysis cells are very similar.

This means that factories set up to manufacture fuel cell technology licensed by Ceres could also manufacture electrolysis cells licensed by Ceres.

90pc - Potential efficiency of solid oxide electrolysis

“We will pursue things under the same business model as we have done for fuel cells,” says Selby. “If you're spending hundreds of millions today on a fuel cell factory, you could also use that and save investment to make an electrolysis product.”

Alongside anion exchange membrane (AEM) technology, solid oxide is seen as on of the two chief electrolyser technologies that can rival the more established PEM and alkaline electrolysis (AE) systems for green hydrogen production.

"The big benefit is that splitting high temperature water into hydrogen is intrinsically more efficient than doing so with liquid water,” says Selby.

“Alkaline is definitely the incumbent, but its only 60pc efficient, so if you put that next to a new technology that 80pc or even 90pc efficient, it’s relatively easy to see some disruption.”

Ceres Power sees its first commercial electrolyser products arriving around 2025, following the pilot projects.

The growth of its electrolyser business helps the firm diversify its product across the hydrogen value chain and also helps to de-risk the investments of manufacturing licensees by giving them multiple outlets for their technology.

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Author: Tom Young