OVERVIEW - Firm order drought among electrolyser makers extends into Q2

The second quarter of 2024 continued the global trend for electrolyser manufacturers to announce new partnerships with a promise for upcoming firm orders, subject to project developers taking their final investment decisions (FIDs). There was one notable capacity reservation deal in the gigawatt scale announced by one of the usual suspects in the sector – Nel. However, when it comes to actual orders being placed, none of the new ones seemed impressive in the context of all the massive projects that are being unveiled around the world.

In terms of technologies, it was once again a mixed bag. The majority of announcements involved Alkaline Water Electrolysis (AWE) and Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) devices, with just a few Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) and Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) units.

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This overview collects widely-reported deals, partnerships and contracts for electrolyser supply that were officially announced by the better-known sector players in April-June 2024. They are presented below in alphabetical order.

CERES POWER

During the three month period, Ceres Power Holdings Plc, a fuel cell and electrolysis technologies developer based in the UK, disclosed signing a contract to design a 10-MW pressurised solid oxide electrolyser module for oil and gas giant Shell Plc, to be used in large-scale industrial applications such as synthetic fuels, ammonia and green steel.

The contract represents a continuation of the existing collaboration between the two companies as part of which Ceres deployed a 1-MW SOEC system at Shell's research and development (R&D) facility in Bangalore, India. Ceres will now develop a pressurised module design that can be scaled to hundreds of megawatts and be integrated with industrial plants to produce sustainable future fuels. It will be targeting a module level efficiency of less than 36 kWh/kg of hydrogen.

CPU HYDROGEN

China-based CPU Hydrogen Power Technology (Suzhou) Co Ltd, a specialist in alkaline water electrolysis, in April formally signed a co-operation agreement in Europe with DCH Energy GmbH in connection with the Sonnenhof neighbourhood in Eisenfeld, Germany. The project in question involves the creation of a carbon-neutral residential and commercial area.

Also in April, CPU H2 established a partnership with Gusu Laboratory, Goodway Technology Co Ltd and Suzhou University of Science and Technology to develop an off-grid photovoltaic (PV) electrolysis system in Suzhou. The project revolves around the production of green hydrogen using an off-grid PV current-driven alkaline electrolyser.

ENAPTER

In April-June 2024, Enapter announced publicly two orders for the AEM Nexus 500 electrolyser, one in Germany and one in Canada and each with a capacity of 500 kW.

As part of the German contract awarded by Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), the first containerised unit is to be integrated into the state-backed Energy Lab, Europe’s largest research infrastructure for renewable energy. The system will produce green hydrogen for use in various test scenarios of sector cogeneration, including waste heat projects, and will supply several pilot plants.

The second AEM Electrolyser was ordered by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia. It will be installed as part of the Clean Hydrogen Hub research project to produce green hydrogen for use by industrial companies and researchers.

Meanwhile, Enapter gave further information about its performance in the prior quarter. It said that in January-March 2024 it recorded incoming orders with a total value of nearly EUR 9.3 million versus EUR 1.27 million in the same period of 2023. Almost 75% of the order volume is attributed to orders for AEM Nexus devices.

“We are currently gaining more new customers who require hydrogen in the megawatt range for their industrial production. At the same time, long-standing customers are also placing larger orders for additional projects,” Juergen Laakmann, CEO of Enapter, said in April.

FORTESCUE

With the official opening of its 2-GW PEM electrolyser factory in Gladstone, Queensland, Fortescue joined “the club” of companies that will cater to the growing demand for this technology.

The facility was opened in early April on the same day Fortescue and Casablanca-based phosphate rock miner OCP Group laid out plans for a new joint venture in Morocco to engage in a number of initiatives, including the addition of large-scale integrated green ammonia and green fertiliser production capacity that would undoubtedly require the delivery of electrolysers.

Later in April, Fortescue also announced that alongside Actis, it won the rights to develop, build, own and operate a large green hydrogen project in Oman. The output is likely to be sold to local industrial offtakers or processed into derivatives for export.

ITM POWER

In late April, ITM Power Plc announced a new partnership that could eventually result in firm orders for PEM electrolysers for delivery in the UK and across continental Europe. The counterparty in this agreement, Hygen, aims to implement up to 200 MW of electrolyser projects over the coming years and has selected ITM as its preferred supplier of the technology.

The partnership will be implemented in two phases, starting with the deployment of about 50 MW of NEPTUNE Plug and Play electrolysers across several projects in Phase 1. This would be followed with projects for an additional 150 MW, according to the announcement, which notes that each scheme will be subject to a FID.

MCPHY ENERGY

The second quarter of the year was eventful for McPhy Energy, though, not so much in terms of new firm orders. Yet, the company did announce a megawatt-scale order in May. French green energy firm Valorem and its construction unit Valrea contracted McPhy to supply a 1-MW electrolyser and a hydrogen filling station for the Rouen Vallee Hydrogene (RVH2) project in the Greater Rouen area in Normandy.

However, later that month the company announced that it had agreed to terminate its cooperation with Hytlantic in connection with the GreenH2Atlantic project in Sines, Portugal. While Hytlantic remains committed to the project, McPhy has decided to “focus on implementing its strategy, aiming to become one of the leading electrolyzer company in Europe”. McPhy was selected as the preferred supplier for the project in December 2021 and was expected to deliver a 100-MW electrolyser under this partnership.

June was an important month for the company because it raised EUR 30 million by completing an offering of convertible bonds and also inaugurated its Gigafactory in Belfort. The bond transaction was of particular importance because it ensured that the company has sufficient working capital to satisfy its obligations until February 2025. Still, McPhy made it clear that it is dependent on some other financing measures to cover its operating expenses beyond that.

NEL

Nel ASA, which became solely dedicated to the electrolyser business in June after spinning off its fuelling division, announced one notable deal during the quarter. In late April, it said it became Hy Stor Energy’s exclusive electrolyser partner for phase one of the Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub (MCHH) in the US which led to the project developer reserving more than 1 GW of production capacity for alkaline electrolysers. The Norwegian company stressed that it does not consider capacity reservation as order intake or backlog until a firm purchase order is received. Nel expects to start producing electrodes for this project next year and to continue until the first part of 2027.

Also during the quarter, Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser AS entered into a technology licensing agreement with Reliance Industries Ltd, providing the latter with an exclusive license for Nel’s alkaline electrolysers in India. The deal also enables the Indian company to manufacture Nel’s alkaline electrolysers for captive purposes globally.

NUCERA

In the second quarter, Thyssenkrupp Nucera stood out with the announcement that it became the preferred supplier of a 300-MW alkaline electrolyser for the 400-MW first phase of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley that is being developed at Cepsa’s La Rabida Energy Park in the southern Spanish province of Huelva. The company has won a contract to provide a basic engineering design package for the project, which is planned to utilise 15 units of Nucera’s 20-MW standardised scalum electrolyser units.

While reporting on its performance for the second quarter of fiscal 2023/24, the company also said that in April it signed a contract with a company of the basic industry for a 100-MW-plus electrolysis project in Europe.

At the end of March 2024, Nucera’s alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) business had an order backlog of about EUR 800 million, according to a news release from mid-May.

OHMIUM

Judging solely by its public announcements during the period, the second quarter of 2024 was busier than usual for Ohmium International.

In April, the California-based PEM specialist unveiled a green hydrogen collaboration with H2 Green Mining, a joint venture between Pares&Alvarez subsidiary Susterra and Star Energy Partners, targeting the decarbonisation of mining operations in Chile. The partnership envisages the development of a 20-MW green hydrogen pilot in the town of Calama in the Atacama Desert, with the potential to expand to 200 MW. Ohmium said that its electrolysers will produce hydrogen for the copper smelting process as well as other thermal processes within mines. Shortly after the Chilean announcement, Ohmium also established a strategic partnership with EPC firm Tata Projects in India under which the US company will provide PEM electrolysers.

Ohmium, though, also secured some more specific projects in May. First, it announced a collaboration with Dutch sector player HYGRO to co-locate 5.4 MW of PEM electrolysers with wind turbines at the EWEF Wind Park in Wieringerwerf, North Holland. The pilot project will be initiated next year and could be expanded in the future.

Then, in Croatia, Ohmium was selected by local engineering and construction company IVICOM to equip the first green hydrogen project in the country. This calls for a 10-MW electrolysis installation at the INA Rijeka Refinery, paired with a solar power plant.

Ohmium would be hoping to get more work in Croatia, whose government targets the installation of 70 MW of hydrogen production facilities by 2030 and further expand this to 2,750 MW by 2050.

PLUG POWER

Plug Power Inc continued its streak of announcements in the second quarter of 2024, too. During the three-month period, the end-to-end green hydrogen solutions provider boasted about new and significant Basic Engineering and Design Packages (BEDP), a new partnership and even a firm electrolyser supply contract.

Plug’s BEDP offering was the highlight of the quarter as the company announced reaching 7.5 GW in total contracts of this type since launching the service in 2022. As part of these contracts, Plug provides the engineering and plant integration details to allow a full plant front-end engineering design (FEED) study. The idea behind this particular service is to enable customers to seamlessly integrate the electrolyser package into their project’s broader engineering and construction plan, Plug explains. The company estimates that projects move from BEDP and FEED to FID in about 6-18 months. At the beginning of February, it claimed to have never lost a single project to the competition post-BEDP.

The new BEDP contracts signed in April-June 2024, included in the aforementioned 7.5 GW, are a couple of deals with unnamed counterparties for up to 350 MW in Europe and the US, and a massive opportunity of 3 GW with Australian green ammonia producer Allied Green Ammonia (AGA). The FID for AGA’s hydrogen-to-ammonia project is planned for the final quarter of 2025.

Apart from the BEDP contracts, Plug also got an actual order in June for 25 MW of PEM electrolyser systems for an unnamed customer in Europe. Moreover, the client’s desire to decarbonise its operations opens up the possibility of expansion to up to 2 GW.

In the meantime, Plug will also be working on a feasibility study with Airbus and Delta Air Lines in connection with a proposed hydrogen-based hub at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). This study is scheduled for completion at the end of 2026.

Earlier in July, Plug said that, to date, it has installed more than 95 MW of electrolysers around the world, which is a record among PEM specialists. It is also on schedule to ship and start commissioning 37 additional units.

SIEMENS ENERGY

While Siemens Energy itself did not disclose any orders in the second quarter, Cepsa revealed that the German company has been selected as the supplier of PEM electrolysers for a 100-MW portion of its project in Huelva. This is in addition to the 300 MW of alkaline electrolysers that will be delivered by Nucera to form a combined 400-MW facility as the first phase of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley project.

Cepsa explained the decision to use two types of technologies for this project as “a multi-supplier approach to creating a European value chain for green hydrogen.”

STARGATE HYDROGEN

Not only did Stargate Hydrogen raise about EUR 42 million in a seed funding round during the second quarter of 2024, but the company also received a couple of new orders. It is known as the developer of an electrolyser technology that uses a ceramic-based catalyst material rather than precious metals as is the case with other electrolysers.

In May, Stargate signed a collaboration agreement for the supply of electrolyser stacks to Biga Hydrogen GmbH. The two companies’ strategic collaboration starts with a purchase order tied to an upcoming green hydrogen project in Turkey. More specifically, Stargate will supply and integrate its Stellar100 stack into Biga's own modular system to form an electrolysis plant with a capacity of 100 cubic metres per hour (m3/h) in the industrial zone of Manisa. In a second phase, the project could scale up to 1,000 Nm3/h.

Fortum, on the other hand, has ordered a 1-MW unit of Stargate’s Gateway200 alkaline electrolyser system for a Finnish project at the Kalla test centre near the company’s Loviisa nuclear power plant. This project will serve as a blueprint and testing bed for larger ones, Stargate said.

SUNFIRE

Sunfire made a single notable announcement during the month of April. It said it will be conducting the FEED study for a 500-MW project in Europe scheduled for operation by 2028. The only details it gave about the scheme is that it will feature a pressurised alkaline electrolyser powered by solar and wind energy to produce hydrogen for a variety of applications, including refinery operations and ammonia production.

At the time of this announcement, Sunfire said that its electrolyser order backlog amounted to 700 MW.

SUNGROW

China’s Sungrow Hydrogen joins our overview in a big way. It said in late June that it won the bidding for China Energy Engineering Corporation’s (CEEC) Songyuan Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park project in Jilin province. Accordingly, it will supply its alkaline system for this integrated green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol project valued at USD 4 billion. The announcement did not mention the exact size of the electrolyser order.

Upon completion, the Songyuan facility will be able to produce 110,000 tonnes of green hydrogen, 600,000 tonnes of green ammonia and 60,000 tonnes of green methanol annually.

VERDAGY

We conclude last quarter’s overview with Verdagy, an alkaline electrolysers specialist with a factory in Silicon Valley. There were no publicly announced firm orders for the company during the three-month period but it signed a strategic agreement under which it will supply its systems to renewables developer Doral through 2030. According to the announcement, the two companies will collaborate on Doral’s green hydrogen project pipeline which tops 1 GW. The deal has a global scope with a focus on projects in Europe, the US, Australia and the Middle East.