Enapter's AEM Electrolyser wins Earthshot Climate prize
Enapter's AEM Electrolyser - billed as the first scalable electrolyser that replaces fossil fuels with green hydrogen - was one of five inaugural winners of the Earthshot Prize last night.
Other winners included Republic of Costa Rica (Protect & Restore Nature); Takachar (Clean Air); Coral Vita (Oceans); and City of Milan (Food Waste hubs) and each received £1 million to further their development.
Enapter claims the AEM Electrolysers are easy to install and importantly, they’re standardised. "This standardisation makes them perfectly suited for mass production, which will create the economies of scale to massively sink the cost of electrolysers and put them in hands of all."
Funding from winning The Earthshot Prize will help scale mass production, which is planned from 2022, while growing the team faster and funding further research and development. By 2050, Enapter’s vision is to account for 10% of the world’s hydrogen generation.
To achieve mass production, it has started construction of the Enapter Campus in Germany where it will aim to make 10,000 green hydrogen generators per month from 2023. "This is just the start: We’re treating this as the blueprint for further expansion since we’re working towards an annual CO2 reduction of at least 600 million tonnes by 2050," it added.
Born in a climate-change affected South Pacific Island, Vaitea Cowan co-founded Enapter to turn back the tide. Just three years on, its green hydrogen technology could change the way we power our world.
"We have made huge advances in renewable energy. But we can still go further. With 30% of our energy already renewable, we need to focus on the 70% that remains: non-renewable energy that powers everything from industry to transport."
Enapter's AEM Electrolyser technology turns renewable electricity into emission-free hydrogen gas. Developed quicker and cheaper than once thought possible, the technology already fuels cars and planes, powers industry and heats homes.
The City of Milan’s Food Waste Hubs tackle two problems in one. Launched in 2019 with the aim of halving waste by 2030, each hub recovers food mainly from supermarkets and companies’ canteens and gives it to NGOs who distribute it to the neediest citizens.
Created by HRH Prince William and The Royal Foundation, the Earthshot Prize aims to mobilise collective action around humanity’s unique ability to innovate, problem-solve and repair our planet. The prize is centred around five simple but ambitious goals which, if achieved by 2030, will improve life for future generations.
