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The German company Ostermeier H2ydrogen Solutions has developed an electrolyser that works with tap water, with bottles to store hydrogen and a fuel cell or a Wankel engine to produce electricity. The system has a capacity ranging from 1kW to 100 kW, which corresponds to a hydrogen production of 0.2-20 Nm3/h. The German company Ostermeier H2ydrogen Solutions (OHS) GmbH has developed an electrolysis frame module for residential and commercial applications that allows electricity produced in sunny weather to be stored and used to generate electricity and heat again in winter. The electrolyser is sold with a compressor, a pressure storage module, and a fuel cell or Wankel engine to produce electricity. “Our system is specially designed to work in combination with rooftop photovoltaic power generation,” company owner Markus Ostermeier told pv magazine. A solar array with a battery can offer the optimal solution for the configuration we propose. OHS currently produces the system at its headquarters in Schweitenkirchen, near Munich, Germany. It sells the seasonal storage system starting at €160,000 ($175,400), depending on project size and applications. We sell our devices to schools, agricultural and commercial businesses, as well as multi-family buildings, explains Ostermeier. “We have recently sold an electrolyzer to the Hochschule Bremerhaven university, two to the Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany and one to a private company in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. We have other customers in Switzerland, Finland and France, and we plan to produce around 10 electrolysers this year and another 20 in 2023.” The system works with tap water and is offered together with bottles to store hydrogen and a fuel cell or a Wankel engine that OHS buys from third-party manufacturers. The electrolysis kit is housed in a 19-inch ERM cabinet. The basic version consists of the electrolysis module, the base module and the control module. The cells of the electrolysis module are supplied by the German specialist H-TEC Systems. The system has capacities ranging from 1kW to 100 kW, which corresponds to a hydrogen production of 0.2-20 Nm3/h. For power supply, system operators can choose between an AC/DC power supply with a 400 VAC three-phase connection or a DC/DC power supply with a 48 VDC connection. The electrolysis module stack is cooled during operation by a standard deionized water-based cooler and the operating temperature ranges from 55 to 65 C. The hydrogen in our system can also be used for laboratory applications or as fuel for cars, trucks, forklifts or other vehicles, said Ostermeier. Taking into account an electricity price of around €10 ($11)/MWh, the system should be able to provide green hydrogen at a cost of around €12 ($13.2) per kg. “Thanks to its modular design, the hydrogen production can be individually and cost-effectively adapted to different fields of application,” said Ostermeier. |
