Chapter 10 - Power to gas (H2): alkaline electrolysis

Abstract

Alkaline electrolysis as an industrial process has been around since the advent of commercial power at the beginning of the 20th century with most large-scale plants (up to 165MW) built between the 1920s and 1980s in response to hydrogen demand for the ammonia industry. With the emergence of cheap hydrogen from steam methane reforming from the late 1980s, the production of small-scale plants (around 1MW) dominated the electrolysis market. But in recent years, plant scale has increased (10MW with few at 100MW) compared to scale in the 1990s in response to increased demand for green hydrogen and moving away from hydrogen production from fossil fuels. This chapter addresses the learning rate of alkaline electrolysis systems from the period 1956–2016, issues with generating experience curves for the system as a whole as opposed to on a component basis, associated cost reduction drivers, and the future outlook of the alkaline electrolysis market until 2030.