Electrolyser manufacturer Sunfire will build a large-scale alkaline electrolyser production site with a capacity of 500MW/yr in Germany by 2023 as it looks to expand production in its new division.

Sunfire—traditionally a manufacturer of solid oxide electrolysers—added alkaline electrolyser manufacture to its product portfolio in January this year by acquiring Swiss manufacturer Industrie Haute Technologie.

The firm says it is experiencing so much demand for electrolysers that it decided to initiate a division specialising in the more established technology.

1GW/yr – Target post-2023 production of facility

“Ambitious regulatory initiatives to cut CO₂ emissions in all sectors of the economy are fostering a rapid growth of the global hydrogen market until 2030,” says Sunfire CEO Nils Aldag.

“We will be expanding our annual production capacity of pressurised alkaline electrolysers from 40MW/yr to at least 500MW/yr by 2023.”

Sunfire is already underway on plans to extend that 500MW/yr production site to 1GW/yr after 2023.

Proton exchange membrane and alkaline electrolysis are the two most established technologies in use today, with anion exchange membrane  and solid oxide electrolyser cell (SOEC) technologies seen as potential rivals.

The firm will continue to manufacture solid oxide electrolysers but needs to develop the technology further before it can be deployed at commercial scale.

"Thanks to its unsurpassed efficiency, SOEC will be the preferred electrolysis technology in various industries", says Aldag.

Solid oxide electrolysis has an efficiency rate of up to 80pc compared with 60pc for alkaline electrolysis.

In May 2021, Sunfire was selected to receive funding support from the EU’s Important Project of Common European Interest scheme by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy.

Demand for electrolysers in the EU alone is expected to rise to 40GW by 2030. The IEA said in a recent report that 850GW of electrolysis capacity will be needed worldwide to reach climate neutrality by 2045.

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Author: Tom Young