ITM unveils 50MW PEM electrolyser priced at €50m that will be 'cheaper than Chinese alkaline machines in Europe'
Source：hydrogeninsight
UK electrolyser manufacturer ITM Power has unveiled a new modular 50MW “full-scope green hydrogen plant” priced at €50m ($58m), which it says is “substantially more competitive than any comparable solution, regardless of technology or provider”.
A senior executive at ITM tells Hydrogen Insight that its new Alpha 50 PEM system will be even cheaper than same-sized systems built in Europe using low-cost Chinese alkaline electrolyser stacks.
“Some people forget that about 70% of the capex is EPC [engineering, procurement and construction) and related activities, which are carried out (and costed) in the local region, ie, where a Chinese potential plant has no cost advantage,” he tells Hydrogen Insight.
“We believe that Alpha would be significantly cheaper as a full-scope plant than any other plant, regardless of who claims they could build it.
“In addition, we think that we have a technology advantage, and finally, we have real-world experience of building large plants, which is invaluable.”
PEM electrolysers have traditionally been more expensive to buy upfront than alkaline machines.
Alpha 50, which can “easily” be configured into larger plants, is a plug-and-play 50MW electrolysis system designed for outdoor installation, which eliminates the need to build warehouses to accommodate electrolysers.
“Powered by our proven and leading stack technology, Alpha 50 is fully skid-mounted, prefabricated and standardised,” says ITM in a press release. “It consolidates central process units and offers in-built redundancy for key components to maximise plant uptime.
“Offering superior energy efficiency and capable of load changes within seconds, Alpha 50 maximises hydrogen production.”
ITM has, so far, been the only electrolyser maker in the world that has publicly revealed the cost of any of its systems.
In May 2024, ITM took the unprecedented step of publicly revealing the cost of one of its core products, the 5MW Neptune V containerised green hydrogen plant, at £4.35m (€5m/$5.87m). This is the same €1m/MW price as the new Alpha 50.
“Our containerised 5 MW plant Neptune V redefined how mid-size projects are executed today. It’s now time to disrupt how large-scale projects are deployed,” said CEO Dennis Schulz.
“Alpha 50 makes available our high-performing and proven technology in the most competitive full-scope solution for large-scale projects. Alpha 50 will transform the industry and set a new standard for execution at scale.”
Schulz told Hydrogen Insight last month: “We revealed the price [of the Neptune V] because we are confident that we not only have the best-performing, but also the most competitive product in the market. Our commercial traction with Neptune V has proved us right.
“And see how nobody else came out with a price afterwards. You see, whenever you selectively hear about better prices, such as for Chinese alkaline, they usually just speak of ‘electrolysers’, which oftentimes only refers to the stack alone or a convenient but questionable subset of the whole plant.
“Neptune V is a full plant, plug-and-play, only requiring [inputs of] tap water and electricity, and it will give you very pure green hydrogen at 30-bar pressure [the same as Alpha 50]. I am not aware of anybody else in the market who is more competitive in the real world than we are at this point, but I am happy to be proven wrong, of course.”