Photo-electrochemical hydrogen generation: Scaling and commercialization

Solar hydrogen generation systems’ path towards commercialization relies on their competitiveness in terms of performance, longevity, cost and sustainability. Utilizing solar irradiation concentration and thermal management are two features that can lead to a competitive system. I will discuss our journey from our laboratory scale demonstration (output power in the range of 10 W) under controlled irradiation conditions to our demonstrator scale (output power in the range of 1 kW) under realistic solar irradiation conditions, and the planned industrial demonstrator (targeted output power in the range of 100 kW). I will provide data that shows and quantifies the operational stability of the system. I will discuss operational strategies that increase the competitiveness and capacity factor of the system, including strategies for 24h operation of the system or for constant hydrogen production rates. I will end with an outlook on how such systems can be further scaled to the MW scale, how they can be integrated in the current energy landscape, and how they can be extended to incorporate C-based inputs to contribute to the production of sustainable liquid fuels.