Nel opens Herøya facility
The large-scale concepts will optimise the overall CapEx and realise synergies to reduce cost.
Nel has officially opened today (20th April) the world´s first fully automated electrolyser production facility at Herøya, Norway.
The company aims to make green renewable hydrogen cheaper than natural-gas-based hydrogen by 2025 through scaling-up and automation that would lower the unit cost of electrode production.
Nel aims to deliver green hydrogen at $1.5/kg, and to achieve this capex must be reduced to a quarter of today’s level.
The new plant at Herøya currently has 500 MW of production capacity. This figure can rise to 2 GW with further investment, a sizeable portion of the 10 GW of capacity Nel is targeting to reach within 2025, depending on demand.
Nel is also investing much capital in developing concepts as large as 800 MW and beyond based on 20, 100, and 200 MW building blocks.
Jon André Løkke, Nel´s CEO, said, “Half of the savings we need to make will come from scale-up and increased efficiency in production. The rest will come from the economy of scale and from effective industrial partnerships.”
He further added, “At Herøya, we are producing the best alkaline electrolysers in the world. The next step would be to industrialise our PEM technology in the US in a similar way.”
Terje Lien Aasland, Minister of Energy and Petroleum, added, “Nel’s new factory at Herøya is a step in the right direction towards a future without emissions. In a growing hydrogen market, even more, electrolysers are needed, and it will be a sign of quality that the electrolysers are marked ‘Made in Norway’.”
