The wide variety of energy sources, including renewables, which can be used to produce hydrogen, makes it more and more attractive as an energy vector. An easy way to transform renewable and other non-fossil sources of energy into hydrogen is water electrolysis.
The specific targeted research project “Highly Efficient, High Temperature, Hydrogen Production by Water Electrolysis” (Hi2H2) was launched in 2004 in the frame of the European Framework Program 6. The aim of the project was to demonstrate the feasibility of hydrogen production by high temperature water electrolysis using currently available Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) technology. Coupled to renewable energy sources, this technology may meet the present environmental and economical request. The Hi2H2 project is a consortium of 4 European research laboratories - EIFER (coordinator) and DLR in Germany, Risø-DTU in Denmark, and EMPA in Switzerland, bringing together skills and experience in the field of material science, electrochemistry, and renewable energy.
In order to determine the best operating conditions of the Solid Oxide Electrolyser Cells (SOECs) under HTE mode, several experimental tests have been done at different scales, from cells and single repeating units (SRUs) until stacks. Results obtained were then used to make the technical and economical analysis of the hydrogen production by high temperature water electrolysis.
The results in the project will be presented and discussed in this contribution.