Charbone Hydrogen (CH-X) and ABB have signed a memorandum of understanding that will see ABB supply up to 15 modular and standard electrical substations designed to maintain a stable power supply for Charbone's electrolyzer units used to produce green hydrogen.

Under the terms of the agreement, Zurich-based ABB will design, engineer, fabricate, test and deliver the substations to various green hydrogen production sites over a five-year period.

The first site will be Charbone's flagship Sorel-Tracy facility will rely on renewable energy provided by Hydro-Québec.

By combining Charbone’s expertise in green hydrogen production with ABB’s electrical and automation solutions, Charbone is on the verge of a widespread rollout of modular green hydrogen plants across North America.

"By collaborating with ABB, we are gaining a very strong engineering and design partner that will provide us with the substations that are the heart of the connection between power lines and our electrolyzer system," Daniel Charette, COO of Charbone Hydrogen, told Sustainable Biz Canada in an interview.

"ABB is one of the leaders in the field of power electronics and these substations will be designed in such a way that they can be adapted to any of our green hydrogen plants . . . This enables us to demonstrate the advantages and capabilities of our plug-and-play modular approach to green hydrogen production."

ABB substations are key to modular plant efficiency

By regulating power levels and minimizing electrical drop-offs, the ABB substations improve energy efficiency and reliability which ensures smoother operation of the hydrogen production process. 

The modularity of the substations also allows for rapid deployment and scalability owing to their inherent compatibility with Charbone's modular electrolyzers. This allows the company to replicate the two systems across multiple projects, reducing lead times and costs. 

The Sorel-Tracy plant will serve as a model for future Charbone green hydrogen projects, including the long-delayed Detroit facility that the company intends to resume work on later this year after having resolved financing, transmission and interconnection issues.

"Our modular business model allows us to copy and paste our engineering and installation designs for every plant we build — we are able to repeat the recipe from one project to the other wherever our hydrogen is needed and it normally takes us only eight to 14 months from the time we choose the site to the time the plant is ready to begin production. 

"ABB will be using the same approach. Instead of needing to come up with a new substation design for every project, they will build each unit using the same modular design to connect to every new facility that Charbone will be building," Charette said.

Modularity also gives Charbone an additional cost advantage over other green hydrogen producers by being able to set up its modular units on site or close to industrial plants as opposed to companies faced with the alternative of having hydrogen shipped long distances at a prohibitively high cost.

"Canada is a large country and it will never be worthwhile to transport hydrogen from Montreal to Winnipeg, for example. We offer a cheaper solution by building our modular facilities next to wherever the hydrogen is needed."

Agility and load management 

In a rapidly evolving green energy market, Charbone has elaborated a business model based on agility, flexibility and adaptability. The company also leverages its use of standardized modules to mitigate the engineering, design and installation risks associated with standalone, one-off projects.

The ABB substations facilitate effective load management by means of automated control and monitoring systems, enabling Charbone to adjust energy consumption based on real-time demand and supply conditions, thereby allowing for flexible and efficient utilization of available energy.

"ABB provides us with a fully automated system which represents a significant cost saving on our opex (operating expenditures) because we'll be able to adjust to different pricing at different times of the day, from peak to low cost," Charette said.

Sorel-Tracy plant is a game-changer 

The modular design of the Sorel-Tracy plant is a game-changer for the industry and will initially produce 200 kilograms of green hydrogen per day before ramping up to an expected output rate of one tonne per day.

The facility is merely the first chapter in the company's plan to develop between 10 and 15 similarly sized green hydrogen production facilities across North America by the end of the decade. 

These projects will be strategically located in regions with high green hydrogen demand: Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Greater Toronto Area. 

The phased development approach allows Charbone to adapt to market conditions and customer needs. Each facility will begin operating at a production capacity of one tonne of hydrogen per day, with the potential to scale up as demand grows. 

In order to finance its expansion plans, Charbone is actively engaged in raising additional capital.

"We are working very hard to close a $6-million convertible debenture which is being led by the US Capital Group in San Francisco and we are working with a couple of other banks to help raise that capital . . . We also are planning another funding round that will probably be in the $30 million range although we have no definite timetable for that," Charette revealed.