In 2018, a TU Delft chemistry professor revived a battery design from Thomas Edison's 1901 patent and asked a simple question: what if the same electrochemical cell that stored grid electricity could also split water into hydrogen once fully charged, without any additional hardware? That idea, the Battolyser, sat in a lab for five years, then raised €75 million and caught the attention of VDL Groep, one of the Netherlands' largest industrial conglomerates. Today, Alquion, the merged entity formalizing that partnership as of April 2026, is preparing to demonstrate the technology at industrial scale. An investment decision for a 0.5-MW demonstration system is scheduled for May 2026, with a 5 to 10-MW production system already in design phase.
The merger itself is the story that matters. Conventional industrial electrolyzers cannot flexibly respond to renewable energy supply, they require a minimum 20% electrical load to operate safely, which means they waste wind and solar power or require expensive grid support. The Battolyser solves that by using nickel-iron electrodes and alkaline electrolysis chemistry that can toggle instantly between battery charging, hydrogen production (when fully charged), and battery discharging. Professor Fokko Mulder's team published the foundational research in *Energy & Environmental Science* using chemistry from a century-old invention, but applying it to a problem, renewable hydrogen integration, that did not exist when Edison filed his patent. CEO Mattijs Slee, hired as the company's first employee in 2021 after serving as Commercial Head Europe at Shell Hydrogen and Investment Director at Shell Ventures, has spent four years positioning the technology for industrial deployment. The merger with VDL Hydrogen Systems, announced in July 2025 and now formalized, pairs Battolyser's chemistry with VDL's manufacturing expertise and customer base, the kind of alignment that turns lab ideas into factory production.
The capital stack reveals European policy backing this bet. The European Investment Bank committed €40 million in venture debt in October 2023, making Battolyser the first Dutch climate tech scale-up to receive EIB funding. That came alongside a €2 million European Commission subsidy from the Just Transition Fund and a €30 million Series A led by Global Cleantech Capital and Innovation Industries, with Invest-NL joining in a second close in September 2024. The capital is not just validation, it is structural. Battolyser stated that in favorable geographies, the Battolyser can deliver green hydrogen at €2 per kilogram by 2025. Conventional green hydrogen via dedicated alkaline electrolyzers currently costs €3 to €4 per kilogram in most European markets. At €2/kg, Alquion's technology undercuts the market by 30 to 40%, and more importantly, it flexes with renewable supply, meaning less wasted wind and solar power and lower grid balancing costs.
Who benefits depends on the demo results in the next twelve months. Industrial sectors consuming hydrogen, steel mills, refineries, e-fuel producers, fertilizer plants, face cost pressure and carbon regulations. A fully flexible electrolyzer cuts both their hydrogen input costs and their grid support costs. Renewable energy developers in high-wind and offshore regions gain a customer that actually absorbs surplus power, solving the curtailment problem that damages wind farm economics. VDL's manufacturing footprint and customer relationships in industrial supply chains give Alquion credibility those relationships cannot be faked. The question is whether the 0.5-MW demo performs to spec. If it does, the 5 to 10-MW production system follows in months, not years, and Alquion pursues approval and funding for a 1 GW annual production factory in Rotterdam, which would require backing from the EU Innovation Fund, an application that was pending as of late 2024.
Watch three signals. First, the May 2026 investment decision for the 0.5-MW demo, if delayed or cancelled, the industrial customer has doubts. Second, VDL Groep's capital commitment to the Rotterdam 1 GW factory in the next six months; if VDL is serious, they fund tooling before EU money arrives. Third, EU Innovation Fund approval and funding envelope for the factory; without it, Alquion remains a single-demo company, not an industrial player. The chemistry works. The capital is committed. What matters now is whether the factory gets built before conventional electrolyzer makers respond with their own flexible designs.