Capex and opex input assumptions for PEM and Alkaline electrolyser systems

This data is based on analysis conducted by the Strategic Futures team. The benchmark capex figures are presented for 3 scenarios for proton-exchange membrane (PEM) and Alkaline electrolysis. These are derived from a combination of NESO's own analysis, and aggregation of available public and third party data (see list of sources below).

Sources:

Bloomberg NEF
Wood Mackenzie
Aurora Energy Research
IEA (2024), Global Hydrogen Review 2024, International Energy Agency
Danish Energy Agency (2024), Renewable Fuels - Technology Data, Danish Energy Agency
TNO (2024), Evaluation of the levelised cost of hydrogen based on proposed electrolyser projects in the Netherlands, TNO Public

CKAN Data API

Access resource data via a web API with powerful query support.
Further information in the main CKAN Data API and DataStore documentation.

The Data API can be accessed via the following actions of the CKAN action API.

Query
`https://api.neso.energy/api/3/action/datastore_search`
Query (via SQL)
`https://api.neso.energy/api/3/action/datastore_search_sql`

Query example (first 5 results)
`https://api.neso.energy/api/3/action/datastore_search?resource_id=88cfa584-db79-4573-a0c0-c14086257f8f&limit=5`
Query example (via SQL statement)
`https://api.neso.energy/api/3/action/datastore_search_sql?sql=SELECT * from "88cfa584-db79-4573-a0c0-c14086257f8f" LIMIT 5`

A simple ajax (JSONP) request to the data API using jQuery.

var data = {
  resource_id: '88cfa584-db79-4573-a0c0-c14086257f8f', // the resource id
  limit: 5 // get 5 results
};
$.ajax({
  url: 'https://api.neso.energy/api/3/action/datastore_search',
  data: data,
  dataType: 'jsonp',
  success: function(data) {
    alert('Total results found: ' + data.result.total)
  }
});

A simple ajax (JSONP) request to the data API using jQuery.

import urllib2
  url = 'https://api.neso.energy/api/3/action/datastore_search?resource_id=88cfa584-db79-4573-a0c0-c14086257f8f&limit=5'
  fileobj = urllib2.urlopen(url)
  print fileobj.read()

Download (CSV)

Data Explorer

Table Information

Tech

Title	Tech
Type	string
Description	Electrolyser technology, either PEM or Alkaline
Comment
Example
Unit	N/A

Scenario

Title	Scenario
Type	string
Description	Electrolyser capex scenario - Central, High, or Low scenario for capital cost projection
Comment
Example
Unit	N/A

Build Year

Title	Build Year
Type	integer
Description	Construction year of the electrolyser plant
Comment
Example
Unit	N/A

Capex (£/kWe)

Title	Capex (£/kWe)
Type	number
Description	Capex representing the total installed capital costs of the electrolyser system in £/kW input electricity
Comment
Example
Unit	£/kWe

Efficiency

Title	Efficiency
Type	number
Description	Efficiency of the electrolyser system representing the output kWh hydrogen yield per kWh input electricity, presented as a %
Comment
Example
Unit	%

Capex (£/kW H2 HHV)

Title	Capex (£/kW H2 HHV)
Type	number
Description	Capex representing the total installed capital costs of the electrolyser system in £/kW hydrogen equivalent using the higher heating value (HHV)
Comment
Example
Unit	£/kW H2 HHV

Fixed Opex % of capex

Title	Fixed Opex % of capex
Type	number
Description	Annual fixed opex as a percentage of total capex
Comment
Example
Unit	%

Fixed Opex

Title	Fixed Opex
Type	number
Description	Annual fixed opex covering standard operating and maintenance costs
Comment
Example
Unit	£/kW H2 HHV per year

Variable Opex

Title	Variable Opex
Type	number
Description	Variable opex covering other opex including water costs and electrolyser stack replacement
Comment
Example
Unit	£/kWh H2 HHV

Plant Lifetime

Title	Plant Lifetime
Type	number
Description	The plant lifetime is assumed to be 25 years in all cases
Comment
Example
Unit	N/A

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Capex and opex input assumptions for PEM and Alkaline electrolyser systems

CKAN Data API

Data Explorer

Data Explorer

Table Information

Tech

Scenario

Build Year

Capex (£/kWe)

Efficiency

Capex (£/kW H2 HHV)

Fixed Opex % of capex

Fixed Opex

Variable Opex

Plant Lifetime