By establishing renewable hydrogen production at an industrial scale, the partnership formed between Siemens Energy and Air Liquide in 2021—with the ambition to initiate a European ecosystem for electrolysis and hydrogen technology—is lighting a path to a low-carbon future.
Every credible pathway to net zero relies heavily on renewable hydrogen. The growing importance of the molecule is underlined by the IEA’s Global Hydrogen Review 2024. It estimated that global hydrogen demand reached 100mt/yr in 2024, but demand for low-emission hydrogen accounts for less than 1mt/yr. However, the IEA expects this demand to grow to more than 6mt/yr by 2030.
As the market explores new technologies to support the energy transition and increase access to low-carbon hydrogen sources, it must be noted that a significant portion of the hydrogen available today is produced through steam reforming of natural gas. On the other hand, renewable hydrogen is generated using water electrolysis powered by renewable energy.
While electrolysis is a well-established technology, scaling up to produce the large volumes of hydrogen required to meet growing demand and achieve cost competitiveness remains a key challenge for the widespread adoption of renewable hydrogen.
An Air Liquide project recently inaugurated in Oberhausen in the industrial Ruhr region of Germany is making that scale a reality. The project is aptly named Trailblazer. It is the first commercial-scale electrolyser deployed at an industrial site in Europe and will feed renewable hydrogen directly into Germany’s industrial heartland via Air Liquide’s pipeline.
The Trailblazer project
The recently inaugurated Trailblazer started as an Air Liquide brownfield project on an existing chemical site. The project was the first developed in the framework of the Air Liquide and Siemens Energy cooperation on proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) electrolysis. The partnership joins the best of the two companies, with Siemens Energy’s strength in electrolysis stacks manufacturing, industrial capabilities and technology coupled with Air Liquide’s deep experience across the entire hydrogen value chain—from production, storage and distribution to the development of applications for industrial end-users.
At the heart of the Trailblazer installation is a Siemens-Energy-designed electrolyser stack based on PEM technology. Characterised by efficiency and particularly well suited for flexible operation using variable renewable energy resources such as wind and solar, PEM technology easily adapts to the power available. The decision by Siemens Energy to invest in PEM technology was due to the vast benefits, especially in the mid- and long-term, where progressively higher efficiencies are anticipated.
With PEM technology first introduced to the market in 2011, the Trailblazer development is an elegant demonstration of a third-generation system that is achieving rapid scaling and large efficiency gains in renewable hydrogen production.
With a full array of 24 electrolyser stacks and a 20MW capacity of the electrolysis plant, Trailblazer is now the largest such system in Europe. It is producing some 335kg of hydrogen and 2,680kg of oxygen per hour, the equivalent of up to 2,900t/yr of hydrogen.
The official inauguration of the plant was held in August 2024. Air Liquide signed a power-purchase agreement for German onshore wind to supply the plant with renewable energy. As the project is in a large industrial area, it has the capacity to supply a diverse range of industries in the downstream market—such as steel, chemicals, refining and transport. Air Liquide already operates an approximately 200km hydrogen pipeline network along the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, and output from the Trailblazer project will serve Air Liquide customers.
Hydrogen market development
Trailblazer is a large-scale electrolyser connected to Air Liquide’s existing hydrogen infrastructure. It is through this deep integration with both existing infrastructure and a ready market that the site makes a decisive impact on developing a sustainable hydrogen economy in North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany more broadly.
The advantage of electrolysis is that it simultaneously produces hydrogen, oxygen and heat. All potentially have market value. Using both hydrogen and oxygen from the electrolysis process also offers economic benefits, helping to address key challenges in the electrolytic hydrogen market. This approach presents opportunities in enhancing the business case and unlocking additional value from these assets, while also meeting the growing market demand for low-carbon hydrogen solutions.
Furthermore, by utilising feedstock that would otherwise require fossil energy resources, electrolysis adds significant weight to a positive carbon balance. Above all else, this is a key advantage and it is important enough that the German government is providing support to drive hydrogen development in Germany. Many other national governments are also looking to encourage clean hydrogen production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their industrial and transport sectors.
It is important to also recognise that PEM electrolysis technology still has considerable room for efficiency gains. It is clear that for plant operators, as consumers of renewable power, the more efficient the system, the more competitive the levelised cost of hydrogen produced. One of the other attractive features of PEM technology is that the core technology is remarkably robust, being free of corrosive electrolyte. Siemens Energy also provides a circular economy and has developed measures to have high recovery rates through recycling of critical catalyst materials and refurbishment of stack components.
Trailblazer aims to showcase the maturity of PEM electrolyser technology at an industrial scale. The bigger and more efficient these plants become, the more competitive the product will be. In addition, the lessons learned during the construction and operation of this new plant will support future electrolysis plant developments.
To be more impactful on the market and more competitive, Air Liquide and Siemens Energy announced a new joint venture (JV) and inaugurated a multi-gigawatt factory that produces PEM electrolysis stacks in Berlin. Production capacity of this facility is expected to ramp up to some 3GW/yr by 2025 depending on the market demand. It will support even bigger electrolyser projects that are already being planned and executed. Air Liquide has already revealed ambitions to deploy 3GW of electrolyser technology by 2030, for example.
One of the first projects to use the stacks from the JV’s giga-factory is Air Liquide’s 200MW Normand’Hy electrolyser project in France. Electrolyser technology powered with renewable energy sources will support decarbonising various industry sectors such as chemicals, steel and refineries. By decarbonising industrial-scale gas production, Trailblazer is taking a giant stride towards a low-carbon future for the Ruhr region and far beyond.
Knut Siegert is project manager for Trailblazer at Siemens Energy. Sven Ritter is subject matter expert for electrolysis industrialisation and fabrication at Air Liquide.
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