Plug Power, a US-based hydrogen fuel system company, has raised $1 billion in the form of bought equity to fund the development of a US-wide network for green hydrogen production. The move is motivated by the desire to boost the supply of carbon-free fuel to fuel-cell-powered vehicles. The company aims to build five green hydrogen stations across the United States with electricity sourced from solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. The facilities will have a production capacity of 100 tons per day. The first two of these facilities will be operational by 2024 and the remaining will begin operations by 2024. Further, Plug Power, in collaboration with its strategic partners, Brookfield Renewable and Apex Clean Energy, aims to reduce the cost of production of green hydrogen to bring it at par with grey hydrogen.
The current announcements have increased Plug Power’s post-cash balance to $1.7 billion. In November 2020, the company also announced that its proposed PEM Stack and electrolyzer gigafactory is set to be operational by 2021. By 2024, the company expects to increase its production capacity to 1.5 GW of fuel cells and 500 MW of electrolyzers per year.
Plug Power expects that push for increased hydrogen production capacity, in addition to decarbonizing the transport sector, will also drive the growth of the hydrogen economy. McKinsey and Company estimate that the global hydrogen economy could be valued at $2.5 trillion and fuel 18 per cent of the world’s energy demand by 2050.