Alquion

Alquion, a Dutch cleantech scale-up, was formed in 2025 through the merger of Battolyser Systems and VDL Hydrogen Systems, the only two developers of industrial-scale alkaline electrolysers in the Netherlands. Battolyser Systems originated as a spin-off from Delft University of Technology, where Professor Fokko Mulder invented the underlying nickel-iron electrode technology.

Mattijs Slee, who built Battolyser Systems from 2021 with tens of millions in funding raised from investors including Global Cleantech Capital and Innovation Industries, leads Alquion as CEO. The merger, announced in July 2025 and formalised in 2026, combines Battolyser's flexibility innovation with VDL Hydrogen Systems' pressurised alkaline platform, brought together under VDL Groep's manufacturing and assembly capabilities. Alquion's main shareholders are VDL Groep, Innovation Industries, Global Cleantech Capital, and Invest-NL. The company employs over 50 people across two sites: Schiedam, in the Port of Rotterdam, and Eindhoven, in the Brainport high-tech manufacturing region.

Alquion develops and markets the Flexolyser®, a fully flexible, high-capacity pressurised alkaline electrolyser for industrial applications. Unlike conventional alkaline electrolysers, which require a minimum production level of 20 to 40 percent to operate safely and degrade with frequent cycling, the Flexolyser can start up and shut down without loss of performance.

This lets industrial customers and grid operators convert surplus renewable electricity, particularly from wind, into hydrogen when it's cheap and abundant, and pause production when it isn't, without the equipment wear that limits older designs. Alquion positions this as a direct answer to the intermittency of wind and solar: hydrogen production that flexes with the grid rather than running at a constant baseload. The company estimates this approach can cut green hydrogen production costs by up to 25 percent without adding network congestion. Target sectors include chemicals, refining, e-fuels, steel, and grid balancing applications.

Alquion has an exclusive partnership with VDL Groep for the industrialisation of its technology, drawing on VDL's manufacturing scale rather than building that capability in-house.

Keywords: green hydrogen, pressurised alkaline electrolyser, flexible electrolysis, cleantech, renewable energy integration, hydrogen production, grid balancing, industrial decarbonisation, offshore wind, nickel-iron technology