Topsøe planning new electrolyser manufacturing plant

By Julian Atchison on June 09, 2022

500 MW to begin, 5 GW potential capacity

Click to learn more. A graphic visualisation of the new facility in Herning, Denmark. Source: Haldor Topsøe.

Herning, Denmark will be the location for Haldor Topsøe’s new electrolyser manufacturing facility. Construction will start later this year, with operations to begin in 2024: first with an annual production capacity of 500 MW-worth of solid-oxide electrolyser units, scaling up to 5 GW. Discussions with potential customers are already advanced.

In the announcement, Topsøe notes that ensuring the wide-spread availability of electrolysers is key to realising Europe’s Power-to-X ambitions. The other key element is plentiful renewable generating capacity, and luckily the European Commission, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium have just committed to invest in a ten-fold increase of offshore wind capacity in the EU by 2050.

Electrolyser manufacturing: GWs and GWs

The momentum for electrolyser scale-up certainly continues to build, judging by Topsøe’s new announcement and a series of recent stories:

  • ITM Power is targeting 5 GW manufacturing capacity in the UK by the end of 2024 (PEM electrolyser units).
  • Canada-based Hydrogen Optimized will construct a 5 GW manufacturing facility in Texas (unit technology unspecified). The facility will be purpose-built to supply the planned Hydrogen City.
  • Nel’s fully-automated electrolyser manufacturing facility officially opened in April, with the organisation already eyeing off expansion of the 500 MW facility to 2 GW (alkaline electrolyser units).
  • Cummins and Sinopec are planning a manufacturing plant in Guangdong Province, China. The 500 MW facility will be completed in 2023, with GWs of expansion planned (PEM electrolyser units).
  • Fortescue Future Industries’ 2 GW manufacturing plant in Gladstone, Queensland broke ground earlier this year, and will produce Plug Power’s PEM electrolyser units.
  • Germany-based Sunfire announced a new 500 MW manufacturing facility operating by 2023, with plans to extend beyond 1 GW.
  • And of course thyssenkrupp, with plans to expand its current total of 1 GW manufacturing capacity to 5 GW in the coming years (alkaline electrolyser units).