Episode 12: Steven Kloos
For the twelfth episode Hydrogen Insight sat down with Steven Kloos, CEO of the Colorado-based electrolyzer manufacturer AquaHydrex to hear about the industry and his company's future plans.
For the twelfth episode Hydrogen Insight sat down with Steven Kloos, CEO of AquaHydrex, a Colorado based electrolyser manufacturer. Steven discussed the role of green hydrogen in achieving global decarbonization goals, where it can help to slash emissions in many hard to abate sectors such as steelmaking, marine transportation and even agriculture. According to the IEA around 3.5 TW of electrolyser capacity will be needed by 2050, far exceeding the current global installed capacity of around 0.3 GW. This would require an annual growth rate in clean hydrogen production of 66% between now and 2030, and 23% between 2030 and 2050.
This increase of low carbon hydrogen production represents major challenges, and Mr. Kloos gave an example of how in the past, electrolysis systems were mostly powered by electricity supplied from the grid, while electrolysis systems today need to adjust to the fluctuating power input characteristic of renewable power generation. Here, electrolysis efficiency becomes one of the primary factors affecting the price of hydrogen. Efficiency in terms of electrolysis is simply the amount of electricity needed to produce hydrogen. Given that the sources of renewable electricity can vary, Steven pointed out that it is important for electrolyser systems to be able to operate flexibly over broad operating patterns.
Steven explained AquaHydrex’s “right-to-left thinking” approach to product development, referring to their approach of adopting the best features of existing electrolysis platforms by incorporating the responsiveness and flexibility of PEM and the inexpensiveness of Alkaline systems. As of now the company has completed the technology development phase and is expecting to move towards commercialization and market entry.
Tune in to listen to our full episode 12 with Steven Kloos.