LOS ANGELES and
SANTA CLARA, Calif.,
July 3,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas
Co. (SoCalGas) and EVOLOH Inc., an anion exchange membrane
(AEM) electrolyzer technology developer, have completed a joint
research project that resulted in enhancements to the current
electrolyzer manufacturing process and technology. Overall, the
enhancements achieved in the project could reduce the capital costs
of the electrolyzer technology by approximately 25% and could help
make the cost of clean renewable hydrogen more affordable.
![Learn more about how SoCalGas is working to help shape California’s 21st century energy system at socalgas.com/rdd. Learn more about how SoCalGas is working to help shape California’s 21st century energy system at socalgas.com/rdd.](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2453302/Generic_Newsroom_Image_1200x630.jpg)
EVOLOH's AEM is made with readily available
materials and utilizes a roll-to-roll manufacturing process. This
enables a shorter and more reliable supply chain as well as a
lower-cost, rapid production process for electrolyzer stack
development. The project was able to achieve a 15% increase in
hydrogen production efficiency to EVOLOH's Nautilus™ series
electrolyzer stack, the core component of an electrolyzer that
splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The increased efficiency
also helps extend the equipment lifetime of the
stacks compared to traditional techniques.
"Meeting the growing demand for clean renewable
hydrogen production will require an extraordinary expansion of the
current electrolyzer market," said Jawaad Malik, chief
strategy and sustainability officer at SoCalGas. "Innovative
projects like this can help significantly reduce electrolyzer
system costs and production time and enable clean renewable
hydrogen production to become more cost competitive with
traditional energy sources."
SoCalGas' Research, Development, and
Demonstration (RD&D) Program helped fund the project and
provided technical assistance with EVOLOH's development of
high-speed coating methods for AEM electrolyzers. The electrolyzer
stacks are designed to be compact, modular and are capable of being
scaled up to 24 megawatts each, which makes them well-suited for
large-scale industrial applications.
"Currently, electrolyzer manufacturing and
hydrogen production is expensive. Electrolyzers can be difficult to
make, transport and install, and certain current technologies
require problematic supply chains," said Dr. Jimmy Rojas, EVOLOH's chief executive
officer. "When our technology is produced using renewable
energy, hydrogen becomes a versatile, flexible and carbon-free
energy platform that opens up new pathways for tackling some of the
thorniest climate problems—like heavy transport, steelmaking,
fertilizer production and long duration storage."
The technology will soon be scaled up at EVOLOH's
new manufacturing Center of Excellence in Lowell, Massachusetts with a goal of producing
3.75GW per year by 2025 in electrolyzer stacks and up to 15GW in
2027. EVOLOH will also begin MW-scale testing at its new
headquarters in Santa Clara,
California later this year.
SoCalGas' RD&D Program plays a key role in
developing and demonstrating innovative products and technologies
that can promote decarbonization across the natural gas value chain
and a diversified portfolio of cleaner energy sources. Learn more
about how SoCalGas is working to help shape California's 21st century energy
system at socalgas.com/rdd.
About SoCalGas
SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility
in the United States serving
approximately 21 million consumers across approximately 24,000
square miles of Central and Southern
California. SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest,
safest, most innovative energy infrastructure company in America.
SoCalGas aims to deliver affordable, reliable, and increasingly
renewable gas service through its pipelines to help advance
California's clean energy
transition by supporting energy system reliability and resiliency
and enabling the integration of renewable resources. SoCalGas is a
recognized leader in its industry and community, as demonstrated by
being named one of Reuters' Top 100 Innovators Leading the Global
Energy Transition and Corporate Member of the Year by the
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), a leading North
American energy infrastructure company. For more information, visit
SoCalGas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on social media
@SoCalGas.
About EVOLOH
Founded in 2020, EVOLOH Inc., is revolutionizing
the manufacturing of water electrolyzers to make low-cost clean
hydrogen production possible at gigawatt scale anywhere in the
world. Nautilus™ stacks, the company's patented electrolyzers,
leverage advanced liquid alkaline technology to minimize costs and
technical risks, while also maximizing manufacturing productivity,
durability and efficiency. EVOLOH is backed by Engine Ventures,
NextEra Energy Resources, 3M
Ventures, and supported by Breakthrough Energy Fellows and others.
For more information, visit https://evoloh.com/
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statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on
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In this press release, forward-looking
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Factors, among others, that could cause actual
results and events to differ materially from those expressed or
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permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of
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the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of capital resources
and our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our
obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies
to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative
outlook, (ii) instability in the capital markets, or (iii) rising
interest rates and inflation; the impact on affordability of our
customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass
through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in
inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and (ii) the cost of
meeting the demand for lower carbon and reliable energy in
California; the impact of climate
and sustainability policies, laws, rules, regulations, trends and
required disclosures, including actions to reduce or eliminate
reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or
regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies,
the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and uncertainty
related to emerging technologies; weather, natural disasters,
pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism,
information system outages or other events, such as work stoppages,
that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems,
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liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not
be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may
impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable
insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage
capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline
system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage
facilities; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to
predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further
discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are
available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on
the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's
website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any
forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure
Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric
Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova,
S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as
the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or
Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra
Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities,
Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.