Battolyser Systems wants to commercially market its system for storing electricity and producing green hydrogen. Led by new CEO Mattijs Slee, the company wants to take its product into mass production. The company is looking for more technical staff to accelerate its growth.
Rotterdam-based Battolyser Systems is a spinoff of TU Delft and set up by the university in collaboration with Proton Ventures and Fokko Mulder, professor of chemical sciences at TU Delft. The company is the developer of a product that both stores electricity and produces green hydrogen from renewable energy sources. The system is based on electrolysis, a process in which water is separated into oxygen and hydrogen.
Aligning energy supply and demand
Technology, Battolyser Systems aims to better align the supply of renewable energy with the demand from society. Finding this balance is a challenge. For instance, renewable energy production comes from wind power or solar strength. In practice, this means that not always the same amount of energy is produced. This can cause a shortage of renewable energy at peak loads, among other times.
Battolyser Systems wants to solve this with its technology. A Battolyser - as the system is called - can store energy. Fully charged, a Battolyser functions as an electrolyser, producing hydrogen from water and renewable electricity with high efficiency. Is there a shortage of energy? Then the Battolyser functions as a battery and releases its energy to the energy grid.
'A Battolyser is constantly at work'
"A Battolyser never stands still and is constantly working for you," explains Slee. This allows the system to store energy if renewable energy production exceeds demand. Once a shortage of renewable energy is imminent, the Battolyser can help make up the shortfall by releasing energy.
Mulder: "The challenge was to develop a robust system that can operate day in and day out for years. A system that is flexible, minimises energy loss, is cost-effective and uses common and conflict-free materials. We have achieved this and projects with commercial customers have started. I am delighted that our research can help address climate change."
"The Battolyser technology is ready, customers have signed on and funding is in. After years of research and development, we are not only ready to market, but also to unlock the scale-up of the green hydrogen market," said Slee.
Pilot at Vattenfall
Mulder's research group presented their battolyser for the first time in late 2016. A pilot facility was realised at Vattenfall's Magnum power plant in Eemshaven in 2019. This facility allowed the technology to be tested and was the first scale-up to a larger system.
Battolyser Systems now has funding to create a larger-scale commercial demonstration facility. Having already joined as a funder in 2020, Koolen Industries is now putting money back into the spinoff. Funding has also been raised for the realisation of an R&D facility and the preparation of a large-scale production facility for Battolysers.
Kees Koolen, CEO of Koolen Industries: "Battolyser Systems will become a major force behind the energy transition under Mattijs' leadership. As former Commercial Head Europe at Shell Hydrogen, he has the technical, venture and business expertise. He is driven by purpose and can build great teams to scale the business for the realisation of our ambitious plans."
Green hydrogen plant at North Sea Port
There have been a number of recent developments in the field of hydrogen. For example, VoltH2 Terneuzen and Virya Energy signed a cooperation agreement in May. The parties are building a green hydrogen plant in the North Sea Port area in Vlissingen. Using a 25MW electrolyser, this plant is set to produce up to 3.6 million kg of green hydrogen annually. In the long term, the capacity can be scaled up to 100MW and production to 14.4 million kg of green hydrogen. Further information about this plant is available here.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
