To be built in Varennes, Québec, the plant has a capacity of producing 11,000 mtpa of green hydrogen
Credit: Hydro-Québec website
thyssenkrupp’s Uhde Chlorine Engineers’ Green Hydrogen product division has succeeded in developing technology for the world’s first water electrolysis plant which will produce green hydrogen. thyssenkrupp will be building the plant for Hydro-Québec, a Canadian state-owned electricity company which supplies hydropower to North America. With a capacity of producing over 11,000 metric tonnes of hydrogen annually, which can produce up to 88MW of electricity, the plant is not only the first of its kind but also the biggest hydrogen production facility in the world. The plant will be built in Varennes, Québec and is expected to be ready for operation by late 2023.
So far, water electrolysis is the only technology for decarbonizing the industrial sector that has the potential to be scaled up significantly. This is because green raw materials cannot become economically viable unless they are used and consumed on an industrial scale. thyssenkrupp has developed technology which uses the world’s largest standard modules, which allow it to render greater flexibility to the plant’s capacity. Standard modules can be combined to achieve capacities in the multi-megawatt and gigawatt spectrum. Christoph Noeres, Head of Green Hydrogen at thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers, said: “With the expansion of our annual supply chain to one gigawatt, our large standard modules and the global presence of our company as an EPC supplier, we already have an ideal starting position in a market that is becoming more dynamic.”
In developing this technology, thyssenkrupp has achieved yet another milestone by making the plant self-sufficient. The hydrogen and oxygen produced as a by-product of the water electrolysis process will be used to produce fuel in a biofuel plant. The plant will use this residual waste to produce carbon-negative fuel for the transportation sector.
Sami Pelkonen, CEO of thyssenkrupp’s Chemical & Process Technologies business unit, said: “This project is an excellent illustration of how important the interaction of secure access to competitive renewable energy and the use of scaled technology for hydrogen production is.” Echoing Pelkonen’s sentiments, Denis Krude, CEO of thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers, added: “Quebec as a region and Hydro-Québec as a customer offer ideal conditions for installing our water electrolysis technology on a multi-megawatt scale for the first time.”
