Manufacture and testing of advanced electrodes for wind-powered alkaline electrolysis (ELEKWIND).

Project description

Among existing hydrogen production technologies, the ELEKWIND project focuses on AWE (alkaline water electrolysis) technology. Despite being a more mature technology than others, significant technological challenges need to be addressed in the coming years to make this technology a viable option for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources, bearing in mind that the latter include fluctuating loads and start-up and shutdown cycles, which significantly complicate the operation of these systems compared to the use of other more stable production sources that operate at a constant rate.

ELEKWIND will work on the development of highly efficient electrodes for alkaline electrolysis that perform better than current ones (in terms of current density and durability), and which can be coupled with renewable energy sources, bringing about a new generation of electrodes that will enable the development of alkaline electrolysis in the future. Research will be conducted into different coating techniques: electrodeposition, physical vapour deposition and thermal spraying for the manufacture of electrodes, techniques with high potential for the manufacture of large electrodes. Ex-situ tests will be carried out and, based on these results, the best defined electrode alternatives will be selected and subsequently scaled up to a 2 kW power stack for each of the defined manufacturing methods.