Manufacturing opportunities around SOFC and SOEC
500/kW for solid oxide electrolysis (SOEC) isn’t a moonshot. It’s a manufacturing target and Europe is better positioned than many people think to get there sooner than later.
What will decide the outcome is not a single breakthrough in the lab, but whether we can industrialise the whole stack → module → system value chain with discipline: standardisation, yield, repeatability, supply chain maturity, and bankable operating data.
I put together the map in the image to illustrate the manufacturing opportunities around Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) and Solid Oxide Electrolysers (SOEC), including reversible SOC (r-SOC) across four layers: materials → components → stacks → systems.
You’ll see a few examples of companies across Europe (e.g., Topsoe, Ceres, SolydEra, Elcogen, Convion, Alfa Laval, Alleima, Höganäs, Borit, Flexitallic, Ingeteam, INERCO… and Ramboll, among others). This is not exhaustive: there are many more, so use the comments as free advertisement. 😊
If we want €500/kW to become reality, I’m convinced we need three things in parallel:
-Standardisation. Common form factors and interfaces where possible (stack/module integration rules, BoP interfaces, test protocols, safety cases, quality standards). Not to kill innovation, but to make scale possible.
-Coordination as a European ecosystem. We have world-class IP, know-how, industrial engineering, and end-users. But we still act too often as isolated projects. Cost-down happens when we align roadmaps and build repeatable products.
-Smart, pragmatic partnerships beyond Europe. Europe won’t build everything alone and shouldn’t pretend to. To scale fast and competitively, we will need strong partnerships with India and China (and others) on materials, equipment, and manufacturing capacity, while keeping quality, transparency, and strategic capability at the core.
At Ramboll, we see the “system reality” every day: bankability is won or lost in integration, operability, and project repeatability, not only in peak stack performance.
Idea to test publicly: should we create a dedicated association / alliance focused on solid oxide industrialisation and standardisation (a “Solid Oxide Manufacturing Alliance”)? Working groups, shared pre-competitive standards, supplier qualification, and a clear path to scale in Europe.
What do you think?