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Japan steps closer to commercialising large-scale green hydrogen production
29/5/2024
A new hydrogen production pilot plant has officially opened in Kawasaki, Japan. The trial operation of the facility’s four 0.8 MW modules marks another step towards the commercialisation of large-scale green hydrogen production, according to the plant’s technology developer Asahi Kasei.
The hydrogen market is set to expand rapidly in the coming years. According to the Hydrogen Council, the cumulative global installed capacity of water electrolysers is forecast to reach approximately 300 GW by 2030. To help meet this increasing demand, Asahi Kasei is developing an alkaline water electrolyser that is optimised for the production of green hydrogen.
A pilot plant has been built at Kawasaki to test Asahi Kasei’s Aqualyzer system under realistic conditions in a multi-module setup that could be scaled up for commercial operation.
Masami Takenaka, Lead Executive Officer at Asahi Kasei who is responsible for the company’s hydrogen business, says: ‘We believe that successfully operating our equipment in this test facility will be a door-opener for commercial large-scale multi-module alkaline water electrolysers, and eventually the realisation of a hydrogen society.’
For the production of green hydrogen, electrolysis systems need to respond to fluctuating power supply from renewable energy sources such as wind or solar. In the pilot plant, four modules are being operated under realistic conditions, including operation during maintenance and low power supply at night-time. In addition, the equipment is designed to simulate fluctuating power input from solar or wind power.
Asahi Kasei aims to combine up to 10 modules with a capacity of 10 MW each, enabling commercial large-scale electrolysis systems with a capacity of up to 100 MW. The company hopes to start commercial business activities for its alkaline water electrolysers in 2025.
The company says that the pilot plant in Kawasaki is an important step towards achieving this goal, following long-term tests of its 10 MW single-stack alkaline-water electrolysis system at the Fukushima Energy Research Field (FH2R) in Namie, Fukushima, Japan, since 2020. It also plans a joint feasibility study with Gentari and JGC for the production of up to 8,000 t/y of green hydrogen using a 60 MW-class electrolyser in Malaysia, targeted for 2027.
