AEM Electrolyser takes £1m Earthshot Prize

The inaugural winners of the Earthshot Prize have been announced, with Enapter’s AEM green hydrogen electrolyser taking the crown in the ‘Fix our Climate’ category.

Already in use across 40 countries, the electrolyser can help replace fossil fuels with clean energy in sectors ranging from residential energy storage and mobility, to industrial use, power-to-gas, and heating. The compact 55kg unit measures 482mm x634mm x 307mm and produces 99.9 per cent pure hydrogen at a rate of 500 NL/hr or 1.0785 kg/24 hr.

The electrolyser can be used as a single device but is also designed to be stacked in order to deliver hydrogen output up to the megawatt level. According to its designers, up to 70 of the units can be stacked in a 20-foot shipping container, creating an AEM Cluster ideal for industrial use. The scalable solution is standardised for mass production and from 2023 10,000 units will be built each month from the Enapter Campus in Germany.

“The Earthshot Prize and its Global Alliance will have an outsized impact in letting people know that modular green hydrogen production is a key solution for flipping global warming,” said Enapter’s CEO Sebastian-Justus Schmidt.

“The awareness and funding will accelerate our scale-up to mass production and into the different markets, helping us to make a significant dent in fossil fuel use by the culmination of the Earthshot Prize decade in 2030.”

Italy-headquartered Enapter was one of five Earthshot prize winners announced yesterday, October 17 at a ceremony at Alexandra Palace, north London, where each of the winners were awarded £1m and access to a global network of professional and technical support to scale their environmental solutions.

Earthshot, created by HRH Prince William and The Royal Foundation, will award five £1m prizes each year for the next 10 years to provide at least 50 solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems.