UK-based ITM Power has unveiled a 50MW green hydrogen plant blueprint to enable more scalable and cost-effective hydrogen production.
The Alpha 50 plant – priced at €50m – can be skid-mounted, prefabricated and standardised to reduce costs and aims to produce high-purity hydrogen at 30 bar pressure.
CEO Dennis Schulz said it was time to “disrupt” how large-scale projects are deployed and Alpha 50 would set a new standard for execution at scale.
Large-scale hydrogen production faces challenges including high energy input, high costs, and the need for new infrastructure for production and transportation.
Existing methods like steam methane reforming are carbon-intensive, while green hydrogen production via electrolysis requires large amounts of renewable energy and faces high costs, even with advancing technology.
Other challenges involve developing efficient and cost-effective storage and transportation methods, ensuring safety due to hydrogen’s high flammability, and establishing government policies and regulations that support investment.
ITM Power launched a German-based subsidiary in the summer, as it continues to explore new openings. It will build, own, and operate green hydrogen plants based on the OEM’s electrolysis technology, following a similar business model that has served industrial gas majors for decades.
Today the most eye-catching large-scale developments are in China.
Envision Energy recently commissioned what it claims is the world’s most advanced green hydrogen and ammonia production facility, in Chifeng.
Powered entirely by an off-grid renewable energy system, the plant, located in Chifeng Net Zero Industrial Park, is also the first of its kind to be fully artificial intelligence-enabled.
Set to deliver 320,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually, with exports commencing in Q4, the facility looks like a leap forward in clean energy and decarbonising industry.