Many have come to consider green hydrogen as a centrepiece of the green transition. Decision makers are increasingly betting on hydrogen produced from renewables as a means to lower emissions and transform hard to abate sectors. But currently, green hydrogen is not commercially viable or available on the necessary scale to impact and drive the global green transition.

In Skive, Denmark, the EU-funded GreenHyScale project, with both Danish and international partners, has the potential to contribute greatly to the positive development of a hydrogen infrastructure in and outside of the EU.

The GreenHyScale project aims to pave the way for large scale deployment of electrolysis both onshore and offshore, in line with the EU hydrogen strategy and offshore renewable energy strategy. The focus of is to create a replicable solution for companies as replicability is key to the global dissemination of green hydrogen.

GreenHyScale will accelerate pressurised alkaline electrolysis to enable large-scale production of green hydrogen, enabling the establishment of a commercially viable hydrogen infrastructure. Alkaline electrolys is the most cost-efficient type of electrolysis, and a technology that efficiently works with the variable load from renewable electricity sources.

The project runs from 2021-2026 and the plan is to evolve a 6MW prototype module into a 100MW full scale electrolysis plant. The demonstration site for the project is GreenLab.

The GreenLab is a green and circular industrial park, technology enabler and research facility in Skive, Denmark. Here, sustainable energy is generated and supplied to the park’s companies in the form that suits them best. The energy is then transformed into heat, electrofuels, and other green products. In the energy park, everything will in the future be connected by the so-called SymbiosisNet – an intelligent network of energy and data that enables companies to share their surplus energy and resources.

Backed by a solid 30 million Euro funding from the EU, each member of the GreenHyScale consortium has an important role to play.

The Danish cleantech company Green Hydrogen Systems is responsible for delivering the first 6MW test module. They are a market leader within pressurized alkaline electrolysis. As a world leader in the manufacturing and deployment of wind turbine generators, Siemens Gamesa will take an advisory role.

The French company Lhyfe will supply control systems for the 100MW plant and are responsible for the integration to GreenLab’s SymbiosisNet.

Once the prototype is done and meets certain performance criteria, Everfuel will oversee the task of scaling the project commercially, which will result in the completion of the 100MW plant based on Green Hydrogen Systems’ electrolysis. The 6MW high-pressure alkaline electrolyser technology will then be evaluated for use in an offshore environment.

Researchers from DTU and Imperial College will contribute with technology design, assessing the role and value of the GreenHyScale concept and providing corresponding policy recommendations for the transition to low carbon energy future. Energy Cluster Denmark leads the project’s advisory board and the external communication, while Euroquality leads the project management.

Both the process and the end product of the GreenHyScale project will yield important results for the future of green hydrogen production.

During the project, test results will be used to establish guides on almost every aspect of the process imaginable. Everything from feasibility and life cycle assessments, to reports on the integration of renewables, to techno-economic analyses, to guidelines for by-product utilisation etc.

The goal is to mitigate the investment risks of upscaling by sharing as much knowledge of the challenges and success criteria as possible. The experience from developing state-of-the-art large electrolyser modules, system integration and operations of 100 MW from GreenHyScale will effectively enhance the developers’ confidence to accelerate the commercialisation of large-scale hydrogen production.

Additionally, the project will deliver an exploitation roadmap and policy recommendations.

GreenHyScale has the potential to accelerate Europe’s path to carbon neutrality by 2050. The results of this project may have an immense impact on achieving the necessary scale for technological advancement and will contribute to lowering the levelled cost of hydrogen towards cost parity with fossil fuels. The partnerships embedded in the project are a good example of what we can achieve when key companies from the European energy sector join forces in upscaling green electrolysis technologies.