Clean tech companies are at the forefront of Europe's efforts to become carbon neutral by 2050. With EU funding, a Dutch company has developed a new green energy technology that could help reach this goal.
Energy powers our daily lives, yet its production and use accounts for 75% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. Now, a Rotterdam-based cleantech company backed by an EU investment program is on a mission to reduce reliance on fossil fuels with an innovation called Battolyser®, an electrolyzer that can store renewable energy in a battery and produce green hydrogen.
Invented at a university in the Netherlands, the Battolyser® generates electricity from renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Once the battery is charged, it can use that energy to produce hydrogen. The system can also be switched on and off instantly to adapt to intermittent supplies.
Optimal energy production
Maarten van Heel, Director of Projects and Engineering at Battolyser Systems, explains how his company can contribute to green energy generation: “60% of the cost of green hydrogen comes from the electricity bill,” he says. “Battolyser® can produce hydrogen when electricity prices are low and stop producing hydrogen when electricity prices are high, something that other technologies cannot do. It can also send electricity back to the grid, creating an additional revenue stream for our customers.”
Last year, the first industrial-scale Battolyser® system was installed at a power plant in the Netherlands for field testing. The hydrogen produced is used to cool gas turbine bearings. A production facility is now being ramped up for commercial deployment. A variety of industries are being targeted, from oil refineries to mobility companies, says Mattijs Slee, CEO of Battolyser Systems. “The energy transition fundamentally needs to be fast because it's critical for climate change. It also needs to be affordable, and we believe we can achieve both.”
Business-led transition
The company plans to build its first large-scale factory in the Port of Rotterdam, a welcome development for Rotterdam Port Authority CEO Boudewijn Siemons. “The transition needs existing companies, and also new ones to fill the gaps,” he says. “In the future, the energy system will be decentralized. You will need batteries and hydrogen production. And Battolyser® combines the two, which is a truly new proposition in this new energy market.”
A €40 million loan agreement has been signed with the European Investment Bank to expand production, backed by a guarantee from the InvestEU fund. The technology, developed in the Netherlands, is due to start being deployed later this year.
