SoCalGas and EVOLOH Complete Hydrogen and Electrolyzer Production Improvement Research Project
July 8, 2024
Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) and EVOLOH, an anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzer technology developer, have completed a joint research project to improve the current electrolyzer manufacturing process and technology.
The enhancements are expected to reduce the capital costs of the electrolyzer technology by approximately 25% and help make the cost of clean, renewable hydrogen more affordable.
EVOLOH's AEM is made with readily available materials and utilizes a roll-to-roll manufacturing process. This enables a shorter and more reliable supply chain as well as a lower-cost, rapid production process for electrolyzer stack development.
The project achieved a 15% increase in hydrogen production efficiency for EVOLOH's Nautilus series electrolyzer stack, the core component of an electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The increased efficiency will also extend the equipment lifetime of the stacks compared to traditional techniques.
"Meeting the growing demand for clean renewable hydrogen production will require an extraordinary expansion of the current electrolyzer market," said Jawaad Malik, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at SoCalGas. "Innovative projects like this can help significantly reduce electrolyzer system costs and production time and enable clean renewable hydrogen production to become more cost-competitive with traditional energy sources."
SoCalGas' Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) Program has funded the project and provided technical assistance with EVOLOH's development of high-speed coating methods for AEM electrolyzers. The electrolyzer stacks are designed to be compact and modular and can be scaled up to 24 MW each for large-scale industrial applications.
The technology will be advanced at EVOLOH's manufacturing Center of Excellence in Lowell, Massachusetts, to produce 3.75 GW per year in electrolyzer stacks by 2025 and up to 15 GW in 2027. EVOLOH will also initiate MW-scale testing at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California, by the end of 2024.
"Electrolyzers can be difficult to make, transport, and install, and certain current technologies require problematic supply chains," said Dr. Jimmy Rojas, EVOLOH CEO. "When our technology is produced using renewable energy, hydrogen becomes a versatile, flexible, and carbon-free energy platform that opens up new pathways for tackling some of the thorniest climate problems—like heavy transport, steelmaking, fertilizer production, and long-duration storage."
