Europe's largest electrolyser for green hydrogen production is now operating in Norway

Fertiliser producer Yara International has started producing green hydrogen and ammonia at its production plant in Norway. According to S&P Global it is currently the largest electrolyser in Europe. Other projects are under construction or planned, although many are facing delays.

The facility, with an installed capacity of 24 MW, has a rated production capacity of 10 tonnes of green hydrogen per day. This volume should be enough to produce more than 20 thousand tonnes of ammonia annually. Renewable hydrogen will thus partially replace hydrogen produced from ethane, which the company says should lead to a reduction in emissions of 41 thousand tonnes of CO2 per year.

Ammonia produced using green hydrogen can then be used to make sustainable fertilisers or other compounds. The company said it has already delivered its first batch of low-carbon-footprint fertilisers to the Swedish farmers' association Lantmannen.

Electrolyser projects face delays

According to S&P, a number of other demonstration projects to produce green hydrogen are facing delays or have even been cancelled. Common factors include rising costs, supply chain problems and technical difficulties in scaling up electrolyser output and capacity.

One example is a project by Danish company Everfuel. It has postponed the launch of its 20MW electrolyser project from the originally planned second quarter to the second half of this year.

As for the cost of producing green hydrogen, S&P Global Commodity Insights last week raised its price estimate for green hydrogen produced in Germany using electricity supplied through a PPA to 8.25 euros per kg, up from the 7.99 euros per kg estimated in May.