Siemens Energy and Air Liquide launch joint venture electrolyser factory

German energy firm Siemens Energy and French industrial gas supplier Air Liquide have set up a joint venture electrolyser factory in Berlin to scale up production of renewable hydrogen and support shipping decarbonisation.

PHOTO: Air Liquide's electrolyser factory. Air Liquide

Currently, the factory has a production capacity of one gigawatt/year, but both companies expect to “ramp up to an annual production capacity of three gigawatts by 2025,” Air Liquide said.

The factory will be equipped with “automation and robotics for the series production of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser modules, the main component of the electrolyser,” the French company said further. These modules offer "a high degree of efficiency," it said.

Air Liquide is also operating other low-carbon and renewable hydrogen development projects in Europe that will incorporate the latest technologies from this factory, it said.

With this joint venture, both companies plan to accelerate projects “which will provide hydrogen for the synthesis of e-fuels for shipping,” Air Liquide added.

E-fuels produced using green hydrogen are gaining a lot of traction from the shipping industry, as the sector is looking for ways to decarbonise operations.

“The mass production of industrial-scale electrolysers is essential to making competitive renewable hydrogen a reality,” Air Liquide’s chief executive officer François Jackow said. “More than ever, hydrogen is proving to be a key element of the transition to a low-carbon society,” he further added.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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