Air Liquide and Siemens have just inaugurated a large gigafactory, which will assemble the electrolysers used to produce hydrogen.
Green hydrogen is increasingly seen around the world as an interesting source of energy capable, in the long term, of partly replacing hydrocarbons. The proof ? The largest economic spaces in the world are getting started. The largest green hydrogen plant in North America has just opened its doors in the United States, while in Europe, an exceptional industrial facility dedicated to this activity has been inaugurated in Berlin.
Air Liquide and Siemens work together
It was an exceptional event, and the presence of Chancellor Olaf Scholtz was there to remind us of it. This Wednesday, November 8, a gigafactory resulting from a partnership between Siemens (75%) and Air Liquide (25%) was inaugurated in Berlin.
It will produce electrolyzers using proton exchange membrane technology. The latter, provided by Siemens, allows, through the use of an electric current, to separate the water molecule H20 between its oxygen atoms and its hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen which can then be recovered and treated by Air Liquide solutions, in order to serve as an energy source.
30 million euros, including 15 million provided by grants from the German government, were needed to create the gigafactory. Olaf Scholtz hailed an achievement which, in his words, would be “ industrial fairy tale. »
Production capacities destined to grow
It must be said that if the beginnings of this tool can be considered “modest”, the production of electrolysers for the first year should represent a total capacity of 1 GW, the future seems to be in development. Siemens and Air Liquide want to quickly increase its production capacity, to reach 3 GW by 2025.
“ If we continued at this pace until 2030, we would have produced a total of more than 20 GW of electrolyzers. These are twice the German objectives and half the European objectives for this horizon » enthused the executive vice-president of Siemens Energy Anne-Laure de Chammard. “ Mass production of electrolyzers on an industrial scale is the key to making competitive renewable hydrogen a reality » underlined François Jackow, CEO of Air Liquide.
And the prospects are good for the partners, who will be the gigafactory’s only two clients. They have thus already succeeded in establishing themselves on the other side of the Atlantic, where the Inflation Reduction Act gives pride of place to renewable energy manufacturers. Contracts representing more than 1 GW would thus already be on the table.
Source : Liquid air, The gallery, The echoes
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