Air Liquide Far Easter (ALFE) has completed the first phase of the construction of its planned 25 MW hydrogen plants in the Tainan Technology Industrial Park. An inauguration ceremony of the H2 Electrolyzer Plant, held on March 18th, was hosted by Olivier BLACHIER, ALFE President. The celebration was graced with the presence of Peter HSU, Chairman of ALFE, Huang Wei-che, Mayor of Tainan City Government, Wei-Fuu YANG, Chairman of TPC, Huey-Jen SU, President of NCKU, Jean-François Casabonne-Masonnave, Director of the French Office in Taipei, Henry CHANG, Chairman of ECCT and customer representatives from TSMC and Micron. A total of nearly 80 guests joined the ceremony together.

These plants will provide ultra-high purity hydrogen to the semiconductor industry as well as serve emerging hydrogen energy applications in Taiwan. This project is in line with the Group’s Climate Objectives which include the development of hydrogen applications and ecosystems for the industry and other markets.

ALFE has completed the first phase of the construction of the hydrogen electrolyzers it has set to build in the Science Parks of Tainan and Hsinchu in Taiwan. Announced in April 2020 as part of a 200 million euro investment, these capacities will be able to produce up to 5,000 Nm3 of ultra-high purity hydrogen per hour. After successfully reaching the Phase 1 commissioning milestone, Air Liquide will continue the construction of its Phase 2 to Phase 5 hydrogen electrolyzer plants in Taiwan over the next 2 years for a total capacity of 25MW.

These production plants will enable Air Liquide to meet the emerging demand for ultra-high purity hydrogen for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) applications and leverage a more environmentally-friendly production process of hydrogen to support the environmental objectives of the major semiconductor industry customers in Taiwan. 

Once the whole project is completed and the hydrogen plants are supplied with renewable energy, over 35,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) direct emissions will be saved annually when compared to traditional hydrogen production processes.

This new local and reliable low-carbon hydrogen supply will further reinforce Taiwan’s leading position in the semiconductor industry. Moreover, this new hydrogen production plant - the third operated by Air Liquide in Taiwan - will also allow the promotion of low-carbon hydrogen for fuel cell applications, to support the emergence of hydrogen storage or mobility projects in the region.