PEM water electrolysis is a technology suitable for utilizing renewable energy sources with large fluctuations in power generation, such as solar power, and has garnered attention as a necessary technology for producing green hydrogen^*1. The production and supply of green hydrogen are planned in various countries worldwide, and reducing the cost of hydrogen production is a challenge for expanding the use of green hydrogen in social infrastructure such as fuel cell vehicles. One solution is electrolysis technology that produces hydrogen at high pressures, which has become mainstream in Europe and the United States, operating water electrolysis systems under high-pressure environments (3-5 MPa). On the other hand, in Japan, there is a challenge of not having public facilities capable of evaluating the performance of hydrogen production equipment at pressures of 1 MPa or higher, partly due to stringent safety standards under the High-pressure Gas Safety Act.

AGC and AIST will progress with this collaborative research project, aiming to achieve a sustainable society by promoting the adoption of clean energy through the utilization of green hydrogen.

^*1 Hydrogen produced by electrolyzing water using electricity derived from renewable energy sources.
^*2 AIST has expertise in electrolysis based on projects funded by the Green Innovation (GI) Fund program by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), as well as previous related research aimed at establishing electrolysis performance evaluation technology. This collaborative research is based on this expertise. However, while the GI Fund program focuses on developing common evaluation methods using readily available materials and equipment in the market, this collaborative research by AGC aims to test and evaluate novel membrane materials in a competitive field. These projects are in different development phases and will be conducted using separate facilities from those established in the GI Fund program. The development themes in the GI Fund program include the following: “Hydrogen Production through Water Electrolysis Using Power from Renewables/ Establishment of performance evaluation technologies for water electrolysers/ Construction of technology platform for evaluation of water electrolysis under a renewable energy system environment” (August 2021 to March 2026).