The facility in Priolo Gargallo is designed to produce renewable hydrogen through water electrolysis. It includes two 1 MW PEM electrolyzers, giving the plant a total installed capacity of 2 MW. At full capacity, the system is designed to produce about 37 kg of hydrogen per hour, equal to more than 324 tonnes per year.

The project is financed by PNRR NextGenerationEU funds under Mission 2, Component 2, Investment 3.1, which is dedicated to hydrogen production in disused industrial areas. Agrobiofert has described H2-FARM, based on the information currently available, as the first Hydrogen Valley in Sicily to reach formal completion-of-works notification and one of the first at national level.

The plant configuration covers production from renewable sources of nonbiological origin, electrolysis, compression, temporary storage, and hydrogen loading onto tube trailers. Within that setup, SAFE supplied the hydrogen compression section.

SAFE’s solution consists of a 30-foot containerized unit with a duplex hydrogen compression system based on TDE + MDH high-efficiency hydraulic compressors. Designed and manufactured in Italy, the configuration integrates three combined compression stages and enables pressures of up to 450 bar. The system also includes logic panels, controls, and cooling systems.

Under the duplex configuration, each compressor can operate independently, supporting plant continuity and reducing downtime risk. SAFE also said its hydraulic technology allows the amount of compressed hydrogen to be modulated without inverters by using the system’s own hydraulic circuit.

“The completion of the H2-FARM works confirms the value of a collaboration created to turn an innovative vision into real infrastructure,” said Giovanni Maccini, Sales Director at SAFE. “We are proud to have contributed our compression technology to a project that demonstrates how renewable hydrogen can become a concrete solution not only for industry, but also for new applications connected to local development, agriculture and the energy transition.”

Source:   Hydrogentechworld