7,000 HOURS OF OPERATION REACHED

Since June 2017, the RSOC system was operated for more than 7,000 hours. Over the course of operation, two long-term steady state operation phases in natural gas fuel cell mode and electrolysis mode were accomplished, each about 1,500 hours long. Hardware and software upgrades were implemented during commissioning and in between operation regimes to increase system reliability.

The NG-FC operation proofed the reversibility of the system and showed its ability to produce power at efficiencies over 50 %LHV. Also first results on shut-down, start-up and switch-over times were gathered. The electrolysis operation demonstrated for the first time the possibility to integrate a high temperature electrolysis as hydrogen supplier into an existing industrial site. The RSOC unit also showed high efficiencies of close to 80 %LHV. With one third of the produced hydrogen fed in the hydrogen pipeline, for the first time hydrogen from a high temperature electrolyser has been used in an industrial application.