Posted on April 15, 2024
Belgium’s Port of Antwerp-Bruges plans to host a trial of an AEM electrolyser for hydrogen production.
Under the port’s NextGen District in the heart of the Antwerp port, Ohio, US-based Power to Hydrogen (P2H2) has signed up to install an AEM electrolyser, which the project partners say will be the “largest in the world.”
Despite not disclosing the capacity of the AEM system, the companies have said it will be installed during the fourth quarter of 2024.
P2H2’s Clean Energy Bridge™ AEM electrolyser systems are claimed to cost less than equivalent PEM systems due to its low PGM catalyst and a 200+ bar operation which it says “eliminates compression” to achieve storage pressures.
The company was selected for $6.6m of funding by the US Department of Energy (DOE) in March (2024) to focus on building out the US domestic supply chain for manufacturing.
Seeing financial support from American Electric Power, EDP, E.ON and ESB as part of the Free Electrons Utility innovation programme, the Belgian trial is hoped to demonstrate the potential of the electrolyser technology in reducing the cost of green hydrogen production.
Paul Matter, CEO of Power to Hydrogen, said, “With our installation in NextGen Demo, we want to demonstrate that AEM electrolysis, which significantly reduces the cost of green hydrogen production, is capable of operating sustainability in a port environment.”
The NextGen Demo zone is a two-hectare site within Antwerp’s industrial cluster where start-ups, spin-off companies and pilot projects can test new technologies.
In 2022, Plug Power announced it would build a 100MW green hydrogen plant in Antwerp, as part of the NextGen District.
Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of Port of Antwerp-Bruges, said the zone was the “quintessential” place where new technology finds access to the “fabric of the port and industry.”
