Topsoe project targets standardised Power-to-X grid access

Topsoe, Aarhus University, and PlanEnergi have secured DKK 25m for a Danish project intended to simplify how large-scale Power-to-X plants connect to electricity networks.

Backed through MissionGreenFuels with funding from Innovation Fund Denmark, the PowerFactor project will develop standardised procedures for grid integration, reducing reliance on customised studies for each individual Power-to-X installation. The partners will focus on how electrolysis-heavy systems behave when connected to electricity networks, with particular attention on power quality, system disturbances, and validated modelling.

Testing will take place at Aarhus University’s Power-to-X pilot facilities in Viborg, where the project will examine interaction between electrolysis, eREACT technology, solid oxide electrolyser cells, methanol synthesis, and grid-emulation systems. By using pilot-scale equipment under realistic operating conditions, the partners intend to create models that can be transferred into commercial project planning.

Large Power-to-X plants are not conventional industrial loads. Electrolysers can operate flexibly and absorb renewable electricity when it is abundant, but they also use power electronics at a scale that can affect voltage quality, harmonic behaviour, and local network conditions. Connection planning therefore requires more than a capacity calculation; it requires evidence of how the plant will behave dynamically.

As Power-to-X moves from demonstration projects into larger industrial deployment, the connection process is becoming a practical constraint. Each project can require detailed analysis of local grid conditions, converter behaviour, operating profiles, and protection requirements. A standardised procedure would not remove the need for site-specific engineering, but it could give developers and network operators a stronger common basis for early-stage assessment.

The same pressure is developing across other large electrical loads. Data centres, battery storage, hydrogen production, and high-power EV charging are all increasing demand for grid capacity while also introducing new operating patterns. As large data-centre loads are increasingly being matched with renewable electricity, including through dedicated renewables routes for digital infrastructure, network planning is having to account for both load growth and more complex asset behaviour.

Power-to-X adds a further layer because the load can be flexible, responsive, and industrially critical. A plant producing hydrogen, methanol, or other low-carbon feedstocks may shift operation in response to power prices or renewable output, but it still needs a connection that remains stable during changing load states. Harmonics, voltage fluctuations, and fast ramping can all affect local equipment and upstream network performance.

Validated models can reduce uncertainty in that process. Developers can use them to support grid applications, equipment suppliers can align system design with connection requirements, and network operators can assess project behaviour against repeatable technical assumptions. That becomes especially valuable where multiple Power-to-X projects are planned around industrial clusters, ports, renewable generation zones, or future hydrogen infrastructure.

With European energy systems under pressure to connect more flexible demand, standardisation will become a practical part of decarbonisation. The PowerFactor project places grid behaviour at the centre of Power-to-X deployment, rather than treating it as a later engineering step. If the models prove robust, they could help reduce connection risk for one of the most electricity-intensive parts of the low-carbon industrial transition.