Imagine a water-splitting machine that works like a high-performance battery in reverse, but much more efficiently. This project makes these machines thinner and larger so they can produce massive amounts of hydrogen gas without using too many expensive materials. It's like moving from a laboratory sample to a factory-ready blueprint for clean fuel.
Current solid oxide electrolysis systems are too expensive to manufacture at scale and cannot produce hydrogen at the rates or costs required for heavy industry.
The project is building 80 kW prototype systems and cells with areas up to 900 cm2. It has already delivered reference scale cells (300-400 micron thickness) and short stacks for testing.
If you are a chemical producer dealing with high carbon emissions from grey hydrogen — this project developed a system to reach an LCOH as low as €2.7/kg hydrogen. This allows for a transition to green hydrogen at a cost that makes industrial-scale production viable.
If you are a plant operator dealing with the inefficiency of current electrolyzers — this project developed cells that are 25% thinner than current standards. This increases current density to at least 0.85 A/cm2, meaning more hydrogen produced in less space.
If you are a manufacturer dealing with the difficulty of scaling lab cells to factory sizes — this project developed cells with geometric areas up to 900 cm2. This provides a validated path to mass manufacturing lines for 100+ MW systems.
The project aims for a Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) as low as €2.7/kg hydrogen.
Yes, the project is preparing SOEL for industrial scale systems of 100 MW or more by validating designs up to 80 kW scales.
Based on available project data, specific licensing terms are not mentioned, but the project is an industrially-driven partnership involving 5 industry partners.
The project plans for more than 10,000 hours of SOEL operation, including two 80 kW testing sessions totaling 4,000 hours.
The project focuses on module configuration and balance of plant requirements to ensure the 80 kW prototypes can scale to 100+ MW systems.
The consortium is heavily weighted toward commercialization, with an industry ratio of 56% (5 industry partners, including 3 SMEs). Led by TNO, the group spans 5 countries and combines academic research with practical industrial application, notably including onsite testing at Shell facilities, which indicates a strong bridge between lab results and market deployment.
Contact TNO (Netherlands) regarding SOEL scale-up results
Contact us to identify licensing opportunities for high-density SOEL cells.
