Battolyser Systems has received $42 million (EUR 40 million) in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) through the InvestEU Fund.
The financing, according to a media release by the European Commission and Battolyser, will aid the company in scaling up production at its facility in Rotterdam. The facility will turn towards mass production of a combined electricity storage and electrolyzer stack system, the press release said.
The technology is currently operational at a large-scale industrial gas power plant in the Netherlands and its commercial deployment is scheduled for 2024. Battolyser earlier said that its first industrial-scale system has been installed at the RWE Magnum power plant. The RWE Magnum power plant is one of the largest power plants in the Netherlands and will use the hydrogen produced by Battolyser to cool its generators, according to Battolyser.
The company also recently received a EUR 2 million ($2.1 million) subsidy from the European Commission under the Just Transition Fund. It will be allocated toward the startup of the company’s factory in Schiedam. At this location, the company said it would set up the first production lines to assemble Battolysers.
“To fulfill the Green Deal and deliver on net zero we need scalable hydrogen solutions for the entire range of industry. Sustainable, low-cost, truly green hydrogen, grid-friendly and ‘made in Europe’ — Battolyser Systems delivers all of this,” Battolyser CEO Mattijs Slee said.
The Battolyser technology is the only hydrogen solution in the market that can match the intermittency of renewable energy sources like wind and solar, the European Commission said. This innovation enables both large industrial players and small and medium businesses to deploy green hydrogen to decarbonize their operations, thereby contributing directly to the objectives of the European Green Deal, the commission said.
The InvestEU program that supports this EIB investment aims to mobilize over EUR 372 billion ($391 billion) in additional investment for EU policy priorities over the 2021-27 period. The operation also underlines the EIB’s commitment to supporting Europe’s state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity in net-zero technologies and solutions.
“A successful green transition requires sustained investment and InvestEU has a key role to play in supporting that. By helping innovative firms gain access to the finance they need, we can ensure that Europe remains at the forefront of developing the advanced technologies we need for a green and sustainable future,” Paolo Gentiloni, EU commissioner for economy, said.
Compared to conventional electrolyzers, the Battolyser has the unique ability to safely switch on and off instantly, the European Commission said. This means that customers can produce affordable green hydrogen when power prices are beneficial or when renewable power is available. A Battolyser is fully flexible, but also state-of-the-art, efficient and sustainable—using only abundantly available and easy to recycle (no PFAS) materials. As a result, Battolyser can be deployed at the full scale of the energy transition to meet Europe’s net-zero targets, according to the commission.
“This technology has the potential to really change how we manage our energy,” said EIB Vice-President Kris Peeters. “Nowadays, solar panels and wind parks are sometimes shut down or throttled to avoid overproduction that cannot be stored anywhere. With the Battolyser, excess energy can be stored or converted into green hydrogen, thus reducing what is called the cost of ‘missed energy’ in our grid.”
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