On the path to low Levelized Costs of

Hydrogen (LCOH):
Electrolysis technology considerations
April, 2023 Carlos Bernuy-Lopez, PhD
Senior Consultant
Conference 2023
Ramboll
What to expect in next 20 min?

1. Ramboll as partner in your Power to X project

2. Hydrogen plants and importance of electrolyzer technology

3. Relationship between LCOH and electrolysis technologies: watchyour OPEX!

Ramboll in brief

• Independent architecture, engineering and consultancy

company
• Founded 1945 in Denmark
• 17,500 experts
• Present in 35 countries
• Particularly strong presence in the Nordics, the UK,
North America, Continental Europe, and Asia Pacific
• Creating sustainable solutions across Buildings, Transport,
Energy, Environment & Health, Water, Management Consulting
and Architecture & Landscape.
• EUR 1.8 billion revenue
• Owned by Rambøll Fonden – The Ramboll Foundation
We are a multidisciplinary society consultant

Environment
Buildings
& Health
Energy

Sustainability
Resilience

Project
Water Management
Innovation

Transport
Management
Consulting

4
1,750 employees in 15 countries
Norway SE
Göteborg
~30 Linköping Sweden
Denmark DK NO Stockholm
Aalborg
~35
~600 Oslo Sundsvall
Aarhus Trondheim Umeå
Copenhagen Uppsala
Esbjerg Varberg
Odense Vänersborg
Vejle

PL Poland
UK CH Warsaw ~45
USA US Aberdeen Zürich JP
~375 Albany Bristol Tokyo Japan
Arlington Edinburgh Switzer GER 4
Atlanta Glasgow -land Essen
Binghamton Harwell ~25 Hamburg
Blue Bell London Hannover
Charlotte Manchester Kassel UAE/QA:
Newcastle SG
Chicago Abu Dhabi Singapore
Cincinnati Doha India
Houston UK Germany
UAE/ ~330
Hunt Valley
~110 ~165
Lindenhurst Qatar Singapore
Liverpool IN 6
~4
New York Ahmedabad
Princeton Bengaluru
Rochester Chennai
Syracuse Ghaziabad
Utica Greater Noida
Virginia Beach Gurgaon AUS
Winston-Salem Hyderabad Perth
Jaipur
Australia
Lucknow
Mumbai 4
Pondicherry
Ramboll Energy -
Fields of expertise
• Wind & solar
• Biofuels and Bio-to-X
• Green hydrogen and Power-to-X
• Carbon capture, CCUS & BECCS
• Fuel cells
• Datacenters
• Energy infrastructure
• District energy & heating
• Biogas
• Waste-to-energy
• Energy-intensive industries
• Thermal power generation
• Power transmission and distribution
Power-to-X: A pathway to decarbonising
sectors that cannot easily be electrified
Explore with confidence
• World-class technical expertise on Hydrogen
and Power-to-X

• 130 successful hydrogen projects in 2020-

2023

• Holistic and multi-disciplinary approach

• Excel in integration of complex systems
• Co-create the best solutions with and for our
partners
Recent completed projects

Idea Funding Feasibility Study Basic Engineering

Concept Development Risk Assessment Planning
Pre-feasibility Study Permitting

• Energy Island Vindø (CIP) • DynAmmonia - project • Power-to-Ammonia (CIP) • H2 Energy Esbjerg, 1 GW
• Bornholm Bunker Hub application • Hydrogen Refuelling • SSV Energipark (Ørsted)
• PTX potential on Lolland • Technical Advisor to Stations • HySynergy (Everfuel)
European Investment Bank • Windpark Kremsdorf • Green Hydrogen Hub
• PTX in Greenland

9
 Project example

Key elements of a large-scale H2 production plant

Container filling station

Distribution
Oxygen

Excess heat Hydrogen

450 bar
Hydrogen offtake location
Electrolyser Compressor H2 pipeline
Hydrogen Hydrogen H2 pipeline
30-40 bar 80 bar xx km
Water

Remains water

Power Power supply

400 kV
Cooling Electricity 1 GW
Fire system 1 GW
xx km
Process control

10
 Role of Green Hydrogen in Decarbonizing EU industry
European Union (yearly)
Fertilizers ➢ 8 Mt Grey Hydrogen → 200 Mt CO2 Emissions
Grey (≈ 7 % of EU )* → ≈ 300 000 Jobs
Natural Gas
Hydrogen
➢ 160 Mt Steel → 221 Mt CO2 Emissions
Refineries
(≈ 8 % of EU )* → ≈325 000 Jobs
Coal Steel RePower EU plans for Renewable Hydrogen by
2030
➢ 10 Mt Internally + 10 Mt Exported
Green
10 Mt = 70 GW Electrolysers = 150-200 GW
Renewable Energy Hydrogen New Renewable Energy Generation
➢ 1 Mt Green Steel = 55 000 t Green Hydrogen

Ramboll 11
Sweden in the forefront of Green Steel
H2 Green Steel and Hybrit in Sweden will produce
3.5 Mtonnes with 1.4 GW size electrolysers

1 million tons of steel requires 55 000 tonnes of

H2 annually, i.e. 400 MW size electrolysers

Steel production Emissions share Electrolysers size

World 1900 Mt/year 8% 760 GW
Europe 160 Mt/year 5% 64 GW
Sweden 4.7 Mt/year 12 % 1.8 GW

12
 H2 Plant: what do you have inside?

H2 plant Balance of
Civil
the plant
n x Electrolyser system
1 x Balance of
n x Electrolyser Unit 1x Control
the system
system
1x Balance of 1 set of Power
n x Stacks
the Stacks Electronics

1x Control
system

Ramboll 13
 H2 Plant: what do you have inside?

H2 plant Balance of
Civil
the plant
n x Electrolyser system
1 x Balance of
n x Electrolyser Unit 1x Control
the system
system
1x Balance of 1 set of Power
n x Stacks
the Stacks Electronics

1x Control
system

Ramboll
14
 H2 Plant: what do you have inside?

H2 plant Balance of
Civil
the plant
n x Electrolyser system
1 x Balance of
n x Electrolyser Unit 1x Control
the system
system
1x Balance of 1 set of Power
n x Stacks
the Stacks Electronics

1x Control
system

Ramboll
15
 H2 Plant: many components!

H2 plant Balance of
Civil
the plant
n x Electrolyser system
1 x Balance of
n x Electrolyser Unit 1x Control
the system
system
1x Balance of 1 set of Power
n x Stacks
the Stacks Electronics

1x Control
system

Ramboll
16
 H2 Plant: many components!

H2 plant Balance of
Civil
the plant
n x Electrolyser system
1 x Balance of
n x Electrolyser Unit 1x Control
the system
system
1x Balance of 1 set of Power
n x Stacks
the Stacks Electronics

1x Control
system

Ramboll
17
H2 Plant: example with n electrolysers

H2 plant Balance of
Civil
the plant
n x Electrolyser system
1 x Balance of
n x Electrolyser Unit 1x Control
the system
system
1x Balance of 1 set of Power
n x Stacks
the Stacks Electronics

1x Control
system

Ramboll
18
H2 Plant: needs even more components!

H2 plant Balance of
Civil
n x Electrolyser system the plant
1 x Balance of
n x Electrolyser Unit 1x Control
the system
system
1x Balance of 1 set of Power
n x Stacks
the Stacks Electronics

1x Control
system

Ramboll
19
Summary of technologies: stack

Alkaline PEM SOEC AEM

Ramboll
Green Hydrogen Production by Water Electrolysis

Low Temperature High Temperature

Type Atmospheric Pressurized Solid Oxide

Proton-Exchange Anion Exchange
Alkaline Alkaline Electrolysis Cell
Membrane (PEM) Membrane (AEM)
(AWE) (PAWE) (SOEC)

Ramboll

DOI: 10.1039/d0cs01079k
 Green Hydrogen Production by Water Electrolysis
Low Temperature High Temperature

Type Atmospheric Pressurized Solid Oxide

Proton-Exchange Anion Exchange
Alkaline Alkaline Electrolysis Cell
Membrane (PEM) Membrane (AEM)
(AWE) (PAWE) (SOEC)
Electrolyte Liquid (KOH-OH-) Solid (NAFION-H+) Solid (DVB-OH-) Solid (YSZ/CGO-O2-)

Pressure Ambient Up to 30 bar Up to 70 bar Up to 35 bar Ambient

Temperature 60-80 °C 60-80 °C 600-850 °C

Y, Zr, Ni, Co,

Materials Ni, carbon steel Ti, Pt, Ir Ni, steel
Stainlesss steel

Stack size 1-5 MW 5 MW 1-2 MW 1-5 kW 10-50 kW

System size 1 GW 1 GW 1 GW 1 MW 50 MW

Ramboll
Summary of technologies: stack

Alkaline PEM SOEC

Size 5 MW / 15 m3 2.5 MW / 2 m3 0.05 MW / 0.1 m3

H2 production 101 kg/h 49 kg/h 1.3 kg/h

40 kWh/kg (83 %) – Up to
Energy consumption 51 kWh/kg (65 %) 52 kWh/kg (64 %) 35 kWh /kg (95 %) with
external heat

Ramboll
Life time 80 000 h 60 000 h 20 000 h
Summary of technologies: different electrolyser types

Alkaline PEM SOEC

+ Low CAPEX + High Flexibility + Low energy consumption
Advantages
+ Mass Manufacture + Small footprint + Inexpensive materials

– Large footprint – High CAPEX – Small volume productions

Drawbacks
– Energy consumption – Energy consumption – Durability

Ramboll 24
Summary of technologies: 2030 perspective

Alkaline PEM SOEC

Reduced expensive
Improved efficiency with Increase stack sizes and
R&D efforts components such as Ti, Ir,
better catalyst microstructures durability
Pt
2030 Industrial projects with Projects with limitation of
perspective Industrial projects with excess
continuous supply of space and variable
(if R&D heat available
succesful)
Ramboll CONFIDENTIAL 2023-04-05
electricity renewable electricity 25
Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH): Impact of
Electrolysis Technology
LCOH (€/kg H2)
CAPEX (€) OPEX (€)
Alkaline PEM

AEM SOEC
Energy Lifetime (h)
consumption
Type of technology
(kWh/kg)
(€/kW | k€ per kg/h)

Operation and
maintenance (€)
Ramboll 26
The importance of addressing OPEX in order to
obtain low Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH)
6.7 % 17 %
reduction reduction

Reduction in
LCOH (%)

-50 % CAPEX -25 % OPEX

Ramboll
reduction reduction
LCOH vs Electricity Price

Ramboll 28
LCOH vs Electricity Price

EU Grey Hydrogen

US Grey Hydrogen

Ramboll 29
Electricity Price in Europe
Solar Wind Electricity
energy energy average price

Country €/MWh €/MWh €/MWh

Spain 30 27 176
Sweden 50 37 111
France 76 43 121
Germany 55 50 151
Netherlands 90 41 133
Ramboll
UK 90 40 210
LCOH vs Electricity Price

Ramboll
Take home messages and perspectives

• Power-to-X : Ramboll capabilities → From Initiation to execution

• H2 plant: More than electrolysers

• Electrolysis technologies: Pros and Cons with every technology. Think about
the specificity of your project

• LCOH: Electricity price is your key parameter → Think of your OPEX!

Conference 2023
Ramboll
For further information please contact

Carlos Bernuy-Lopez Eva Ravn Nielsen

Senor Consultant – Power-to-X Chief Advisor – Power-to-X
[email protected] [email protected]
 Thanks!

Danke!
Gr

¡Gracias!

Tack!!
Conference 2023
Ramboll