(Augsburg / Germany) – Engine manufacturer MAN Energy Solutions SE is building a demonstration plant for the large-scale electrolyzer from Quest One GmbH, known as the “Modular Hydrogen Platform” (MHP), at its factory site in Augsburg. This will be integrated into a test bench and used to generate operational data during testing.
In Finland, the energy company Helen Oy and MAN Energy Solutions want to install a green hydrogen production plant with an output of three megawatts. Quest One is supplying three PEM electrolyzers. This would enable 1,3 tons of green hydrogen to be produced per day © Quest One GmbH
According to the information, construction will start at the end of 2024 with the installation of the fresh water treatment system. The PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) system will be installed in the course of 2025 so that testing can begin in early 2026. The joint project also aims to "continuously optimize the scaling of PEM electrolyzers using field data and to further develop both the plant operation and the assembly and service concept."
Due to "operational requirements," such facilities often cannot be inspected by potential customers. This is different here: from mid-2025, interested parties, project developers, planners and architects will be able to visit. This gives the target groups "an idea of the construction phases, dimensions, interior and infrastructure."
In October, Quest One GmbH opened a factory for electrolysis stacks in Hamburg. Also present: Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (front left), Quest One CEO Robin von Plettenberg (front, 2nd from left), Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (front, 3rd from left) and Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions (front, right). © Quest One GmbH
"We absolutely need electrolyzers on an industrial scale to meet the gigantic demand for green hydrogen in the future," says Jürgen Klöpffer, board member of MAN Energy Solutions and chairman of the advisory board at Quest One. They will show "that the technology for industrial hydrogen production already exists today." According to Quest One COO Michael Meister, the scalable system can be flexibly adapted to increasing hydrogen requirements as the industry ramps up. The MHP is currently the largest PEM electrolyzer in the product portfolio. The module blocks with ten megawatts of power can be expanded modularly and combined to form multi-megawatt systems with an electrolysis output of several hundred megawatts.
Hamburg-based Quest One GmbH – originally founded in 1997 as H-Tec Hydrogen Energy Systems – has been a subsidiary of MAN Energy Solutions and the VW Group since 2021. The VW Group acquired a majority stake in the MAN Group in 2011. In October, the company opened a factory for the serial and automated production of electrolysis stacks.
The development of the demonstration plant is funded as part of the PEP.IN research project, a sub-project of the H2Giga hydrogen lead project of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The aim is to research novel processes for the series production of PEM electrolyzers.
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Quest One and MAN Energy Solutions are building a demo plant for the Quest One PEM electrolyzer on the MAN factory premises in Augsburg, where project developers, planners and architects can get an idea of the technology and the inner workings. © Quest One GmbH
