EU chooses Chiang Mai project to showcase hydrogen clean energy

Hailed as among the “most advanced H2 projects in the world”, Phi Suea House is developed by one of Europe’s fastest-growing green hydrogen companies – Enapter.

In 2015, the multi-house Phi Suea residence became the world’s first self-sustaining development fully powered by a clean-energy hydrogen system.

The Hydrogen Valley Mission Innovation initiative started at the COP21 climate conference in Paris in 2015, to reinvigorate and accelerate global clean energy innovation. Tuesday’s platform launch kicks off one of eight Innovation Challenges, led by the renewable and clean hydrogen co-leaders, Australia, Germany and the EU.

“Realising the huge potential of green hydrogen in the clean energy transition requires accelerated efforts across all sectors of society. The many flagship projects featured on the Hydrogen Valley Mission Innovation platform can help build bridges between cutting-edge technologies and deployment of green hydrogen systems at scale,” said Patrick Child, chair of the Mission Innovation steering committee.

The Phi Suea House, the only Hydrogen Valley featured from Southeast Asia, is a multi-building development powered solely by solar power, a hybrid hydrogen-battery storage system and hydrogen fuel cells. The project was developed by Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, the German co-founder of electrolyser producer Enapter, to showcase combined solar and hydrogen tech feasibility – and uses Enapter’s own electrolyser systems to create green hydrogen from water and electricity.

Enapter is the world’s only manufacturer of Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolysers, and its highly efficient, modular hydrogen generators are used in more than 30 countries. It has chosen Saerbeck, Germany for its first mass-production facility, with construction planned to begin early this year and finish in 2022, with annual production capacity of more than 100,000 electrolyser modules.

“Phi Suea House was an excellent testing ground for developing such a world-first hydrogen system, one which gave Enapter an early chance to prove the success of our AEM electrolysers. That’s why we’re excited to see it selected for the Mission Innovation platform, joining others in inspiring faster green hydrogen rollout and with it, the cost reduction needed to replace fossil fuels globally,” said Schmidt.