Ohmium, the US-based company, has begun producing PEM electrolysers in its new plant at Bengaluru, India, according to company sources. For starters, the company is producing 300 kW systems capable of delivering 6 kg of hydrogen per hour.
The plant is structured to be modular, so that when demand picks up, the capacity can be easily scaled up, according to Pashupathy Gopalan, who along with Ahmad Chatila, are the principal shareholders of Ohmium.
Gopalan and Chatila were colleagues in SunEdison, the solar company, which went bust in 2016. Chatila was the CEO of SunEdison and Gopalan headed the Asia-Pacific operations.
It is learnt that Ohmium has anchor orders from the US, so the initial shipments from Bengaluru will go to the US. However, the company is pitching for sales in India; it says it is seeing a lot of interest from potential customers.
The Indian public sector power major, NTPC, could be one. NTPC's coal-fired thermal plants produce a lot of carbon dioxide; with green hydrogen from electrolysers the company could use the carbon dioxide to make methanol, a fuel. That is one way to wash the carbon sins of thermal plants and also give a filip to hydrogen in India.
Ohmium is also expected to make its pitch to oil refiners who currently use hydrogen to de-sulphurize diesel. This hydrogen could well come from electrolysis--any additional costs could be loaded on to the diesel price, for it will be too small for diesel buyers to worry about.
Ohmium believes that PEM is the way to go for hydrogen. AEM is a decade away. SOFC (solid oxide fuel cells), may delivery more hydrogen, but it needs to operate at 850 degrees C, with expensive equipment, so the economics of it are still a suspect.
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