Inside Herøya: Nel’s first pressurized alkaline production line takes shape

“What you see here is the first line for our pressurized alkaline product,” says Mats Bohman, VP Alkaline Operations at Nel. “It will be a fully automated line.”

The line is being built inside our existing factory at Herøya Industripark. It is the same site where we completed full-scale testing of the pressurized alkaline prototype before taking the final investment decision in December 2025.

The line will manufacture the PA-Series, our next-generation pressurized alkaline electrolyser system, which launched commercially in May 2026.

The final investment decision our Board took in December 2025 covers construction of up to 1 GW of annual production capacity on the new line.

The initial 1 GW of capacity is estimated at an investment of about NOK 300 million before grants.

Automated, high-volume production is how we turn the PA-Series into a standard product rather than a bespoke project. The system is designed to make renewable hydrogen simpler and cheaper to deploy:

• Pressurized operation. The system runs at 15 bar, reducing the need for downstream compression and improving overall energy efficiency.
• Modular and factory-built. Skid-based units are assembled and tested in the factory, then delivered as standardised products.
• Built for outdoor installation. Less civil work and site infrastructure is needed.
• Lower cost. We estimate a turnkey, full-scope cost below USD 1,450 per kW for a 25 MW plant, based on 30 bar delivered hydrogen at 99.99% purity. System CAPEX is expected to be 40–60% lower than solutions on the market today.

Explore the PA-Series →

“This line is built with support from the EU,” says Bohman.

In October 2024, Nel was awarded a grant of up to EUR 135 million from the EU Innovation Fund to industrialize the pressurized alkaline platform. The application was supported by Enova, Norway’s national contact point for the fund. The grant covers up to 60% of eligible industrialization costs.

The 1 GW line is the first stage. Phased with our own investment, the grant supports a roadmap to up to 4 GW of annual pressurized alkaline production capacity at Herøya.