The opening ceremony of Shengshui GW Electrode Membrane Electrode Factory and the new product launch event have been successfully concluded
On October 16th, at the "PEM Electrolyzer - A New Era Begins" Shengshui GW-level Membrane Electrode Factory Opening Ceremony and New Product Launch, Shengshui's new generation of PEM membrane electrodes made a grand debut. The test model PEM electrolyzer SSTS-4001, equipped with this new generation of membrane electrodes, has a cost of only 1.177 million per megawatt, and its extremely high cost-performance ratio instantly attracted everyone's attention.
At the launch event, Shengshui CEO Nathan Wang revealed in his speech: "Against the backdrop of the entire water electrolysis industry focusing on cost reduction and efficiency enhancement, the high cost of key components such as PEM membrane electrodes has led to the persistently high prices of PEM electrolyzers, resulting in market applications that are far from expected and are experiencing a dark period of development. Shengshui Technology's launch of new products at this juncture is to rely on our core technology to change the current development status of PEM electrolyzers with facts and data, providing some support for the rapid development of the industry."
|Xiange Layer Brings Revolutionary Breakthroughs to PEM Membrane Electrodes
In the current market for water electrolysis hydrogen production equipment, PEM water electrolysis equipment, due to its rapid response characteristics and high current density, can match the high volatility of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and is considered the most promising green hydrogen production technology. However, due to the short commercialization time of PEM electrolysis technology, the high cost of key components such as membrane electrodes and bipolar plates has led to the manufacturing cost of PEM electrolyzers being 3 to 5 times that of alkaline electrolyzers of the same scale.
According to last year's domestic public procurement project bidding data for PEM electrolyzers, the lowest price per megawatt of PEM electrolyzer was 5.8 million yuan, and the highest winning bid price was 8.9 million yuan. So far this year, this price data has not shown a significant decrease. However, according to this year's alkaline electrolyzer bidding prices, the lowest winning bid price is around 1 million yuan per megawatt. For PEM electrolyzers to increase market share, cost reduction and efficiency enhancement are imperative.
Nathan Wang introduced that as the core component of the PEM water electrolyzer, the membrane electrode accounts for about 40%-50% of the overall cost. The direction of cost reduction and efficiency enhancement for PEM membrane electrodes has characteristics such as thin films, high current, low oxygen in hydrogen, and high stability. In recent years, Shengshui Technology has gradually adopted a 50-micron proton exchange membrane, self-developed SS-3001 high-stability iridium-based catalyst, and a unique catalytic layer design (third-generation GRC technology) to develop a new generation of PEM membrane electrodes.
However, during the development of new products, Shengshui Technology found that when the proton exchange membrane becomes thinner, the performance of the membrane electrode becomes unstable, and the current efficiency decreases, leading to poorer hydrogen production economy. After relentless research and development, they finally successfully developed the fourth-generation oxygen in hydrogen control technology - Xiange Layer, which allows the new generation of membrane electrodes to achieve low cost while maintaining high performance and long-term stability.
It is understood that the new generation of Shengshui membrane electrodes, under an electrolysis temperature of 60°C, achieve a current density of 1.8V@4A/c㎡, with an iridium loading of 1mg/c㎡ and a platinum loading of 0.4mg/c㎡. In more than 3000 hours of actual testing, the oxygen in hydrogen content is ≤0.3%, the current efficiency is >97%, the durability improvement is >10%, and it achieves 1%-150% load operation, perfectly coupled with renewable energy.
More importantly, the new generation of PEM membrane electrodes has brought a "cliff-like" cost reduction to PEM electrolyzers. The comprehensive cost of Shengshui Technology's test membrane electrode-based electrolyzer SSTS-4001 is only 1.177 million per megawatt, and it also has a higher residual value. Wang Xinlei also emphasized that since Zhan Shui Technology does not produce electrolyzer products, the future cost prices will vary due to the different designs of electrolyzers from various customers.
|Competitive Awards Given to "Friendly Competitors" to Promote Mutual Benefits and Win-Win in the Industry
Before the new product launch, Shengshui Technology initiated a bidding activity based on the new generation of PEM membrane electrode products for electrolyzer prices. They promised that the first hydrogen energy person closest to Shengshui's answer would be given a new top-configured iPhone 16 Pro Max.
At the launch event that day, Nathan Wang personally announced the hydrogen energy person closest to the answer. However, to everyone's surprise, this lucky hydrogen energy person turned out to be a staff member of Shengshui Technology's peer "friendly competitor." Adhering to the principles of fairness and justice, Shengshui Technology still gave the big award to the "friendly competitor" and also received congratulations and blessings from them.
Nathan Wang stated that Shengshui Technology's relationship with peer companies is not a simple zero-sum game. The water electrolysis hydrogen production equipment market has a broad space in the future and requires more excellent companies to work together, promote each other, and improve together. Shengshui Technology will work with outstanding companies to promote the high-quality development of the industry.
At the launch event, Shengshui Technology also announced their next ambitious plan. They aim to increase the working current of PEM electrolyzers to 6-7A@1.8V, not only developing more powerful membrane electrodes but also making PEM electrolyzers cheaper after use.
Shengshui Technology's philosophy and products have also been recognized by upstream and downstream companies. Jing Shuai, General Manager of Cummins New Energy Power Business Unit in China, said that in today's era of rapid progress in hydrogen energy technology, Shengshui Technology has always kept pace with the times, maintaining a focused attitude in meticulously refining technology, promoting membrane electrode technology innovation, and rapidly responding to market changes with product iterations to meet customer needs at different times. The ability to do so is a manifestation of the company and its team's strong resilience, never retreating in the face of numerous technical challenges, thus achieving rapid growth in adversity and obtaining the current achievements.
At the launch event, Wang Xinlei said that Zhan Shui Technology's journey could not have been possible without the unconditional trust of investors, the opportunities given by customer partners for their products, and the full dedication of all Zhan Shui employees and their families, which have shaped a constantly upward enterprise. PEM hydrogen production is a technology route that has just begun commercialization, and Zhan Shui Technology hopes to continue to work hard to improve product capabilities, accelerate the industry's transition from the introduction period to industrialization, and drive the industry to rush towards a true high-quality development new era.