ITM Power has completed the internal fitting and refurbishment of its ‘Gigawatt Factory’ manufacturing proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers in Sheffield, UK.  This included an extension to the existing offices as well as the stack manufacturing and production areas.  As part of the project, the team also created an ATEX-rated* test zone for the factory acceptance of the electrolysers produced, coupled to a 5MW power supply on site.  According to Graham Cooley, ITM Power’s CEO, “The facility is now not only the largest in the world, but also has been designed and fitted out to include the latest state-of-the-art technology and semi-automated machines to enable scaled up production of electrolysers in line with the global demand for green hydrogen.”

This follows the recent announcement from Shell that full operation of Europe’s largest green hydrogen electrolyser using ITM Power’s PEM electrolyser technology at its Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, Germany, has now started.  The plant is the first to use this technology at such a large scale in a refinery and plans are already under way to expand the capacity of the electrolyser from 10MW to 100MW.  Details of the REFHYNE Project and the ITM Power supplied electrolyser were provided in a recent IFRF blogpost.

*  Note, ATEX is the name commonly given to the two European Directives for controlling explosive atmospheres.