thyssenkrupp nucera AG & Co. KGaA (Dortmund, Germany) is establishing its first company-operated central Assembly Hub for electrolyzer cells in VGP Park in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, south of Porto. With the Assembly Hub, thyssenkrupp nucera, a world-leading provider of technologies for highly efficient electrolysis plants, is strengthening its European value chain while at the same time significantly advancing the automation of cell assembly. The Assembly Hub will enable faster and more efficient cell assembly while significantly increasing capacity. Initially, cells for alkaline water electrolysis will be assembled. thyssenkrupp nucera has now signed the lease agreement for the more than 7,500-square-meter building.
“For us, the Assembly Hub is a milestone in automation and assembly efficiency,” said Dr. Werner Ponikwar, CEO of thyssenkrupp nucera. “By centralizing and semi-automating cell assembly, we are increasing our capacity and closely integrating assembly and service. The investment in the Assembly Hub is also a clear commitment to Europe as an industrial location and a further contribution to strengthening the European hydrogen economy.”
Construction of the building begins in winter 2026. Upon completion, thyssenkrupp nucera will install an assembly line. Cell assembly at the Assembly Hub will start in 2028. The Assembly Hub will serve electrolysis projects across Europe and neighboring regions. Starting in 2028, cells for Moeve’s (Madrid, Spain) Onuba project will initially be assembled there. thyssenkrupp nucera is investing between €10 million and €14 million in the Assembly Hub. The project is supported by approximately €3.7 million in funding from the Portuguese government under the COMPETE2030 program.
The Assembly Hub also simplifies cell assembly for customers. Customers no longer require their own assembly infrastructure. This reduces their planning, personnel, and resource requirements. Ready-to-install cell packages also reduce complexity at the project site while providing greater flexibility and higher operational readiness. Customers also benefit from the advantages of the Assembly Hub when it comes to service. This applies both to ongoing operations and to cell replacement.
To date, the individual cell elements for scalum®, the standardized 20-megawatt unit for alkaline water electrolysis, have been assembled in decentralized, customer-operated workshops and subsequently installed at the respective project site. Manual and decentralized assembly can result in long assembly times per cell and thus limits available capacity. With the Assembly Hub, thyssenkrupp nucera will in future consolidate these assembly steps at its own central location. Thanks to its production-line structure and automation, multiple cells can be processed in parallel and throughput times reduced.