The Wadden Fund has awarded Battolyser B.V., a joint venture of TU Delft and Proton Ventures, €480,000 grant to realise a battolyser next to Nuon's Magnum power plant in Eemshaven. Nuon and Yara are contributing to the development project.
The battolyser can efficiently store or supply electricity like a battery, as well as split water into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis when the battery is full. The realisation of a first battolyser in Eemshaven in early 2019 is an important milestone for Nuon in Groningen. Nuon's aim is to be able to store and recycle surplus power from wind and solar for electricity production on a large scale in the future.
At the end of 2016, Professor Fokko Mulder's research group at TU Delft presented the successful realisation of a laboratory-scale battolyser. This new project at Nuon's Magnum power plant, which can be tested immediately, is a first concrete scale-up to much larger systems. The hydrogen produced will be used for cooling the generators, replacing the grey hydrogen currently used for that purpose. Eventually, Nuon wants to use the produced hydrogen as CO2-free fuel for the gas-fired power plant.
Hydrogen also plays an important role in making chemicals more sustainable and electrifying the production process at chemical companies such as Yara and Proton Ventures. The battolyser can be an important solution in integrating intermittent renewable energy on the one hand and the desire to electrify at such companies on the other.
Battolyser for short- and long-term storage
Basically, the battolyser is an electrolyser with nickel-iron electrodes as in the Edison battery of over 100 years ago. Disadvantages of this Edison battery were hydrogen losses during charging and lower usable capacity. Instead, the battolyser exploits hydrogen production and also improves battery capacity. Fully charged, the battolyser functions as an electrolyser that produces hydrogen from water and electricity with high efficiency. The moment there is a shortage of electricity, the battolyser feeds the grid like a battery.
The first 15kW/60kWh battolyser will be installed in Eemshaven in early 2019, after which the device will be cyclically tested to investigate hydrogen gas purity and efficiency. After the testing phase, a plan for subsequent scale-up will be drawn up. Thus, installations of 1 and even 10 MW are already being considered. These can be placed at industrial partners, or at locations where large-scale electricity from offshore wind farms comes ashore, for example at the Nuon power plants in Eemshaven and Velsen.
Nuon Magnum as hydrogen power plant
Nuon sees hydrogen as an essential link in the energy transition and in achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. "Hydrogen can act as a CO2-free fuel and flexible back-up for wind and solar. With the Magnum plant in Groningen, Nuon hopes to act as a flywheel for a growing hydrogen economy in Groningen and the rest of the Netherlands."
Source: Proton Ventures
Photo: Nuon
