Air Liquide has inaugurated HyBalance, a pilot site for the production of carbon-free hydrogen in Denmark.
Image: The facility, which uses electrolysis technology, enables balancing of the electricity grid. Photo courtesy of Air Liquide.
The facility, which uses electrolysis technology, enables balancing of the electricity grid, while storing surplus electricity in the form of hydrogen. The pilot site is developed, built, and operated by Air Liquide.
It produces hydrogen from water electrolysis as well as the filling center for its customers delivered by trailers.
With a capacity of 1.2MW, the electrolyser at the facility allows the production of around 500 kg of hydrogen a day without releasing CO2.
Apart from supplying to industrial customers, the hydrogen produced at the plant will be delivered to a network of five hydrogen stations installed and operated by the Copenhagen Hydrogen Network (CHN), a subsidiary of Air Liquide in Denmark.
Initiated in 2016, the HyBalance project is led by Air Liquide with funding from the European public-private partnership Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) and the support of the Danish EUDP program.
Hydrogenics, LBST, Neas Energy, and Hydrogen Valley are Air Liquide’s partners in the project.
Air Liquide said: “Denmark is a pioneer in the integration of renewable energies into the national energy mix, with 40% of the country’s electricity produced from wind turbines.
“By compensating for renewable energy intermittency, hydrogen offers a solution for storing surplus electricity to meet the challenges posed by the energy transition.”
Under its Blue Hydrogen program, Air Liquide aims to gradually decarbonize its production of hydrogen dedicated to energy applications.
The company has committed to produce at least 50% of the hydrogen required for energy applications through carbon-free processes by 2020.