PX Group and Swiss clean-tech company SoHHytec are developing an industrial demonstration project aimed at producing renewable hydrogen directly from solar energy.
The project will test SoHHytec’s “Arb” technology under industrial operating conditions, with the system designed to supply all of PX Group’s renewable hydrogen requirements. The companies did not disclose the project’s production capacity or commissioning date.
At the heart of the system is a solar-powered artificial tree that uses parabolic dishes to concentrate sunlight onto a proprietary photoelectrochemical reactor. The reactor uses the solar energy to produce hydrogen from water. When sunlight is insufficient, renewable electricity can be used to maintain production.
The approach differs from conventional green hydrogen projects, which generally use electricity to power electrolysers. By combining solar concentration with photoelectrochemistry, SoHHytec is seeking to reduce the number of energy-conversion steps between renewable generation and hydrogen production.
The demonstration is intended to provide operating data on the technology’s reliability, flexibility and suitability for industrial applications, while testing how readily the system could be scaled.
“This project marks an important step in the industrial deployment of our technology,” said SoHHytec CEO Dr Saurabh Tembhurne. He added that the project would demonstrate that green hydrogen can be produced “directly on industrial sites using solar energy”.
For PX Group, the project provides an opportunity to test an alternative route to renewable hydrogen while contributing industrial expertise to the deployment.
“We are convinced that today’s industrial and climate challenges require partnerships that combine technological excellence with innovation,” said PX Group co-CEO Sylvain Chave.
SoHHytec, a scale-up originating from EPFL, has developed the Arb technology around solar concentration and photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. The demonstration with PX Group is intended to move the technology beyond development and into sustained industrial operation.
The project also reflects growing interest in producing hydrogen closer to industrial users, potentially reducing dependence on hydrogen transport and allowing renewable energy systems to be integrated directly into existing industrial sites.
