Groene Waterstof Pilot Plant voor een koolstofarme economie

With the support of renowned utilities (EDP, E.ON, ESB and American Electric Power), Power to Hydrogen (P2H2) aims to demonstrate industrial-scale electrolysis technology that can contribute to Belgium's hydrogen targets. P2H2 has developed an innovative AEM electrolysis technology that can be 65% cheaper than PEM electrolysis technology while effectively integrating with the variability of renewable energy sources such as offshore wind. The technology offers a crucial solution to enable the Belgian economy to decarbonize its industrial sector. AEM electrolysis technology also avoids the need for fluorinated polymers, which cause PFAS pollution, used in PEM electrolyzers.

The P2H2 technology has been successfully demonstrated in a small-scale pilot with EDP, E.ON, ESB and American Electric Power. The technology is now at TRL 5 as it has been validated in a non-industrial environment at a scale of 10 kW. Now the companies want to validate the technology at industrial scale. This scale-up was selected by Port of Antwerp-Bruges forrealization at NextGen Demo . Here P2H2 wants to install a 0.5 MW AEM electrolyser, 100x larger than the largest AEM stack ever installed worldwide. The green hydrogen produced during the project will be sold to industrial hydrogen users in the port (such as BASF and TotalEnergies) to decarbonize their activities. Within this proposal, the project team is looking for additional support to realize the demonstration of AEM technology at industrial scale.

In the short term, this project will help industrial companies in the port reduce their CO2 emissions by 500 tons per year . In the long term, the project serves to validate a crucial hydrogen production technology for the future of Europe and Belgium. AEM electrolysis can solve the critical cost challenges that limit PEM electrolyzers, while also addressing concerns around PFAS contamination in proton exchange membrane (PEM) production. The initial project period is planned from mid-2024 to the end of 2029. The plant can continue to produce green hydrogen after project completion.