Topsoe announces large-scale electrolyser factory in the US
By on May 16, 2024
Click to learn more. Topsoe’s solid oxide electrolysis cells, arranged into larger stacks. Topsoe will construct a GW-scale SOEC manufacturing plant in Virginia, USA. Source: Topsoe.
Topsoe has announced plans to build a 1 GW-capacity solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) manufacturing factory in Chesterfield, Virginia. Thanks to the US government’s $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act, Topsoe has secured an allocation of about $136 million in Section 48C tax credits.
The project will require an investment of over $400 million, making it Topsoe’s largest US investment to date. Combined with its existing SOEC factory in Herning, Denmark, the new factory would make Topsoe the largest SOEC manufacturer globally.
The Inflation Reduction Act represented a bold step towards maintaining American leadership in manufacturing, creating the next generation of clean energy jobs, and combating climate change. I’m glad to see that vision executed in Chesterfield County with the announcement of a new Topsoe manufacturing facility. Thanks to tax credits from this landmark law, Virginia will continue to power our nation and lead the clean energy transition by creating good-paying manufacturing jobs across the Commonwealth.
Mark R. Warner, US Senator, in Topsoe’s official press release, 19 April 2024
With this new facility, we will help drive down the cost of clean hydrogen by employing our innovative SOEC technology which is up to 30% more efficient than competing technologies. Our factory will ensure the economic and environmental aspects of the hydrogen economy are felt in the decades to come.
Kim Hedegaard, CEO at Power-to-X at Topsoe, in his organisation’s official press release, 19 April 2024
Solid oxide electrolysers, especially steam-fed versions, are up to 20% more efficient than other water-fed electrolyser types such as PEM and alkaline electrolysers. You can learn more about Topsoe’s SOEC technology here.
Topsoe has seen growing demand for its SOEC electrolysers over the past few years. In September 2022, a supply agreement of 500 MW (expandable to 5 GW) capacity was reached with New York-based developer First Ammonia.
And the 1 million tonnes-per-year nuclear powered ammonia project in Indonesia announced in May last year between Copenhagen Atomics and Pupuk Kaltim will also use Topsoe’s SOEC and ammonia synthesis technology.