RT Journal Article
T1 Modularisation Analysis for Scaling Hydrogen Production: High-Power Single-Electrolyser vs. Multiple-Smaller-Electrolyser Plants
A1 Rey Luengo, Jesús
A1 Delgado Asencio, Cirilo
A1 Segura Manzano, Francisca
A1 Andújar Márquez, José Manuel
AB The deployment of electrolysis-based hydrogen technology requires identifying the advantages and disadvantages of scaling hydrogen production plants and determining the limits of the scaling-up process. Until now, experience has been demonstrated with electrolysers of tens and hundreds of kilowatts, but electrolysers in the tens of megawatts range are still closer to being prototypes than commercial products. Additionally, challenges such as maintenance, reliability, long-term operation, and investment recovery time arise in parallel as the scale increases. This raises the question of what is more suitable: installing a single high-power electrolyser or a modular plant composed of multiple smaller electrolysers? This paper addresses that question from both a technical and an economic perspective. Accordingly, it presents a study identifying the degree of modularisation that optimises the technical and economic performance of a large-scale hydrogen production plant. The results show that configurations with a higher degree of modularisation (based on multiple smaller electrolysers) exhibit a better technical performance and lower degradation. However, configurations with a lower degree of modularisation are more competitive in terms of costs. When combining technical and economic criteria, the results show that solutions based on a medium–low degree of modularisation are the most suitable. The advantages are lower replacement  costs and uninterrupted hydrogen production. This study also recommends embracing modularisation to prevent a dependence on a single high-power electrolyser.
PB MDPI
SN 2673-4141 (electrónico)
YR 2026
FD 2026
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27631
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27631
LA eng
NO Rey, J., Delgado, C., Segura, F., & Andújar, J. M. (2026). Modularisation Analysis for Scaling Hydrogen Production: High-Power Single-Electrolyser vs. Multiple-Smaller-Electrolyser Plants. Hydrogen, 7(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrogen7010004
NO This research was funded by (1) Spanish Government Project Ref. PID2020-116616RBC31 by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and (2) Spanish Government RED2022-134588-T by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 30 may 2026