- ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® helps companies in hydrogen production to reduce electricity costs by up to 20 percent.
- The software increases the efficiency of energy-intensive electrolysis plants used to produce green hydrogen.
- By weighing forecasts and planning during the day, the solution ensures that companies can trade competitively online.
ABB introduces its energy management system ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® to the green hydrogen market as a support to reduce production costs by enabling real-time optimization of energy consumption throughout the plant.
Green hydrogen produced through electrolysis – a process that uses electricity from renewable sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen – is widely regarded as an important energy vector for achieving a low-carbon future. However, this entails major challenges in terms of high production costs and energy-intensive processes.
According to the Green Hydrogen Catapult, a global initiative of leading energy companies, the cost of producing green hydrogen must drop by 50 percent to below $2/kg by 2026 in order for production capacity to be scaled up to the required 50 times.
ABB’s OPTIMAX® supports this in all aspects of a hydrogen plant’s life cycle, from simulation in the design and construction phases to real-time visualization and monitoring during operation. The software measures bidirectional energy flows and carbon dioxide emissions and provides contextual data that operators can use to determine the optimal energy consumption levels to support facility processes and minimize waste.
The transparency of the solution can also be used to increase the efficiency and safety of each electrolysis module running on the plant, regulating the speed of each individual module and ensuring that it is only used when needed.
“Scaling up green hydrogen production requires significant capital investment as well as high operating costs,” says Sleman Saliba, Global Product Manager Energy Management for ABB Process Automation. “Approximately 70 percent of the total operating costs of running a hydrogen plant come from the electricity required to split the water molecules in the electrolysis process. With OPTIMAX®, which involves a technology investment of 1–3 percent, operators can run their industrial processes in the most energy-efficient way and achieve up to a 20 percent reduction in electricity costs”.
By introducing intra-day planning, operators can also use OPTIMAX® to plan in advance so that they can trade competitively on the electricity grid and develop a circular energy system based on forecasts of available renewable energy against demand and at the same time factor in prices in the electricity market .
The solution can also be used to optimize green hydrogen integration with existing hydrogen networks as well as any future infrastructure that may be developed.
ABB’s Process Automation business area is a leader in automation, electrification and digitization for the process and hybrid industry. We serve our customers with a broad portfolio of products, systems and end-to-end solutions, including our distributed control system, software and lifecycle services, industry-specific products and offerings in measurement and analysis and the marine sector. As the global number two in the market, we build on our deep domain expertise, diverse team and global footprint and are dedicated to helping our customers increase competitiveness, improve their return on investment and run secure, smart and sustainable businesses. go.abb/processautomation
ABB is a leading technology company in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. The company’s solutions combine technical know-how and software to optimize how things are manufactured, transported, operated and handled. With a foundation in over 130 years of expertise, ABB’s ~105,000 employees are strongly committed to developing innovations that accelerate the industrial transition. www.abb.com
To note: This is a Swedish translation of ABB’s English press release dated November 23, 2022, which can be read in its entirety at abb.com/news. If questions of interpretation arise, the English press release applies.
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