Rolls-Royce has said it will launch its first customer project featuring a hydrogen-based microgrid in 2024, after it announced plans to enter the hydrogen production market and acquired a majority stake in electrolysis stack specialist Hoeller Electrolyzer.
The technology will form the basis of a new range of MTU electrolyser products from Rolls Royce’s Power Systems division, and Andreas Görtz, president of the company’s Sustainable Solutions business unit said “The company will thus be able to offer you the complete hydrogen ecosystem – from the production of hydrogen to its use in fuel cells or hydrogen combustion engines.”
Development work on the first MTU electrolyser using a stack from Hoeller Electrolyzer, based in Wismar, Germany, is under way. In 2023, it will go into operation at the Validation Center in Friedrichshafen to demonstrate how an electrolyser fits into the overall architecture of a microgrid. An initial customer project is planned for 2024.
Other MTU microgrid products include batteries, gas gensets and microgrid controllers. In 2020 the company launched its Series 500 genset, which supplies up to 500kW and can be converted to hydrogen operation.
Armin Fürderer, who heads the Net Zero Solutions business unit in Rolls Royce’s Power Systems division, said: “We’re going to launch electrolysers with several megawatts of power right from the start. A total output of over 100MW is conceivable by combining several electrolysers.”
Otto Preiss, COO and chief technology officer, Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said: “Our complete hydrogen solutions will enable customers to store renewably produced energy in the form of hydrogen for use as and when required, or for further processing or onward sale.”
Stefan Höller, Managing Director, Hoeller Electrolyzer, said: “Our stack is going to produce hydrogen at a price not previously thought possible.”