Hydrogen can be produced for less than $1.72 per pound using a combination of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) and small modular reactors (SMRs). A new study led by Dutch nuclear energy development company ULC-Energy BV has concluded that this is significantly cheaper than alternative methods.
In November of 2023, ULC-Energy announced it had signed an agreement with Denmark's Topsoe, the UK's Rolls-Royce SMR and Dutch energy market consultancy KYOS to jointly research the production of hydrogen using Topsoe's SOEC technology with both electricity and heat produced by a Rolls-Royce SMR nuclear power plant.
The joint investigation was to include an evaluation of the operational flexibility of the Rolls-Royce SMR when combined with Topsoe's proprietary SOEC technology in the future energy market.
ULC-Energy recently announced the results of the study. They said that the study had revealed significant advantages of the SMR-SOEC combination. A Rolls-Royce SMR power plant can operate 24/7, with ninety five percent availability. SOEC electrolysis can produce more hydrogen per total power input when it is compared with conventional electrolyzer technologies. Steam can be supplied directly from the nuclear power plant heat exchangers. Hydrogen production can take place off-grid.
The results revealed that hydrogen can be produced this way for less than $1.60 per pound and that this cost can be driven down to less than $.90 per pound by 2050 “by taking into account the value of the flexibility to curtail hydrogen production and deliver electricity to an increasingly intermittent grid”.
This research also indicated that the SMR–SOEC combination produces the highest annual quantity of hydrogen as a result of higher process efficiency and a high availability.
Dirk Rabelink is CEO of ULC-Energy. He said, “The large-scale production of clean hydrogen is an extremely important driver of decarbonization. At ULC-Energy we believe strongly that nuclear can and will play a major role to produce clean hydrogen and derivative clean fuels.”
Rabelink continued, “The study that is now completed clearly demonstrates the capability of nuclear to deliver low-cost, clean hydrogen at an industrial scale. Importantly, it also shows the additional value associated with the flexibility to switch between energy markets such as electricity, heat and, in this case, hydrogen. Topsoe SOEC and Rolls-Royce SMR are both highly modularized solutions that are factory manufactured and can be scaled rapidly.”
Alan Woods is Rolls-Royce SMR's Director of Strategy and Business Development. He said, “Rolls-Royce SMR believes one of its powerful advantages is that it can produce clean energy cheaply and extremely reliably, but can also direct its output to meet demand. This operational flexibility will be increasingly valuable as intermittent energy sources, such as wind and solar, expand. We are excited by the results of ULC-Energy's study and look forward to taking next steps.”
In August 2022, Rolls-Royce SMR signed an exclusive agreement with ULC-Energy to cooperate on the deployment of Rolls-Royce SMR power plants in the Netherlands. ULC-Energy was established in 2021 and is based in Amsterdam. They aim to accelerate decarbonization in the Netherlands by developing nuclear energy projects that efficiently integrate with residential and industrial energy networks in the country.