HYVIA – Installation of the first electrolyser in Flins, France. Image: (C) HYVIA (with permission)
Renault sees the future of carbon-free vehicles through the production of hydrogen from renewable and nuclear resources. Progress is being made to achieve this through a technological innovation that has become a partner company.
The company has announced a new step in the production of hydrogen-powered vehicles. This is in line with Renault’s commitment to decarbonisation and the promotion of cleaner vehicle technologies (a process that started in 2005).
He green energy company HYVIA has introduced its first electrolyser at its Flins, France plant. The company is a joint venture between Renault Group and plug, a firm dedicated to hydrogen mobility, developing turnkey hydrogen fuel cell solutions.
An electrolyser works on the electrolysis base, the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. hydrogen and oxygen are generated in the electrolysis module as a result of the direct current delivered by the power supply.
The electrolyser at the Flins plant is located in the Ile-de-France region. The one megawatt electrolyser has a capacity of 400 kilograms per day of green hydrogen production, which is equivalent to 20,000 kilometers of commercial hydrogen mobility.
Developing the electrolyser was a technical challenge. The electrolytic hydrogen production plant required a series of subsystems to guarantee the success of the process.
The specific technology is called PEM (an acronym for proton exchange membrane) electrolysis. This is a method to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis of water by separating hydrogen and oxygen with low carbon electricity.
PEM electrolyzers contain a proton exchange membrane, based on a solid polymeric electrolyte. As an electrical current is applied to the cell stack during the electrolysis of water, the water splits. Hydrogen protons pass through the membrane to form hydrogen on the cathode side of the electrode.
The new device will initially supply the plant to test the fuel cells of the Renault Master H2-TECH vehicles marketed by HYVIA, as well as hydrogen service stations.
With the announcement, Olivier Cormier, HYVIA Vice President of Manufacturing and Director of Supply Chain saying: “This is a great industrial and human challenge, made possible thanks to the strength of our collaboration with Plug and the Renault Group. As such, our electrolyser is part of the skills development that HYVIA brings to the Renault Group Refactory in Flins, dedicated to the circular economy.”
The new electrolyser process represents a step towards the deployment of HYVIA’s envisioned ecosystem for hydrogen vehicle mobility.
