The hydrogen technology firm said its capacity has increased from 10MW to 360MW with the new factory, making it one of Europe’s largest solid oxide manufacturers.

Construction began at Loovälja Industrial Park in early 2024, backed by €50m ($59m) in capital investment and around €25m ($29.6m) from the EU Innovation Fund. Additional support was received from Baker Hughes, HD Hyundai and SmartCap.

Elcogen has equipped the facility with advanced automation and custom production lines to maximise throughput. It will manufacture electrochemical units, including cells, stacks, and modules, that can be configured into both SOFC and SOEC systems.

The dual-purpose facility will supply systems for distributed and stationary power, industrial backup, off-grid applications, Power-to-X, and green hydrogen production.

The facility is powered in part by a 9MW feed from the nearby Iru waste-to-energy plant, managed by Enefit Green.

“This new facility is built for scale, speed and global impact,” stated Enn Õunpuu, Elcogen’s CEO. “As demand for solid oxide-based clean energy solutions accelerates worldwide, Elcogen is now uniquely positioned to deliver the high-performance technology the market needs, at commercial volumes.”

SOEC is a high-temperature electrolysis process which reduces the electric energy needed for hydrogen production. SOFCs generate electricity and heat directly from hydrogen or natural gas at operating temperatures of up to 1,000 °C.

However, several companies in Europe have scaled back SOFC ambitions due to limited policy support, including Bosch, which has a partnership with solid oxide producer Ceres.