Time is running out to achieve targets set out in the Paris climate agreement, the deployment of renewable energy solutions is speeding up – but not all sectors can be electrified.

Solutions are needed to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as shipping, aviation and other forms of heavy transportation as well as carbon-intensive industries like steel, concrete and mining.

Powering green hydrogen plants with renewable energy sources (wind, solar, hydro) enables countries and companies to produce the green hydrogen needed to decarbonize the most polluting and carbon-intensive industries.

The Solid-Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) is a Topsoe electrolyser technology that enables high-temperature electrolysis – a tested and proven process that facilitates large-scale green hydrogen production. In Herning, Denmark, the construction of the world’s first industrial-scale SOEC manufacturing facility is well underway.

Decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors requires finding viable ways of producing sustainable alternatives such as green hydrogen at scale. It is also essential to find ways of maximising energy efficiency across the value chain, from the way green hydrogen is produced, to the way it is industrially applied.

These efforts are at the centre of Topsoe’s activities in Herning. Unique to this SOEC technology is the ability to utilise excess heat from the heavy industrial processes in which it is applied, making it extremely energy efficient. By coupling SOEC with excess heat-producing technologies, excess thermal energy from industry is repurposed and used to supplement the power needed to conduct the high-temperature electrolysis.

Topsoe’s highly efficient and industry-leading SOEC technology produces 30% more green hydrogen compared with competing green hydrogen solutions. Green hydrogen produced can be used as is or synthesized with carbon or nitrogen to further expand its use across a multitude of other industries.

Topsoe is applying decades of experience as a world-leading technology provider within ammonia, methanol, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, and hydrogen to become a world leader in carbon reduction technologies.

Topsoe’s SOEC electrolyzer plant based in Herning (Denmark), is the world’s biggest and will produce highly efficient solid oxide electrolyzers (SOEC) with a total capacity of 500 megawatts per year, with the option to expand to 5 gigawatts per year.

Through our state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, we are taking power-to-x technology to a commercially competitive position that can be deployed at scale – making the case for decarbonization irrefutable.

Visionary companies are already embracing Topsoe’s vision and innovations:

First Ammonia (FA) have reserved a minimum of 5GW electrolyzer capacity to produce green ammonia, the largest agreement to date for any type of electrolyzer. Through this agreement, First Ammonia will displace almost 5 BCM of natural gas and eliminate 13 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

The first 500 MW of capacity will be installed in the world’s first commercial-scale green ammonia plants at sites in Northern Germany and the Southwestern United States.