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Electric Hydrogen received funds to develop an electrolysis plant
The startup Electric Hydrogen held a financing round that raised $198 million. Investors included funds from such major companies as Amazon, Silicon Valley Bank, and Equinor. In addition to them, well-known representatives of business, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, invested in the project.
The corporations’ attention was drawn to the Electric Hydrogen technology, which produces hydrogen through the process of electrolyzing water. Now the startup is creating its own installation, which will make it possible to increase the volume of hydrogen production and do it on an industrial scale. The power of the installation is at least 100 W, and with its help, standard electrolysis processes can be significantly improved. Thanks to the development of Electric Hydrogen, large amounts of hydrogen can be produced without the use of gas, but only using natural sources – wind and sun.
The company estimates that the cost of environmentally friendly raw materials produced by this method will be about 2.21 dollars per kilogram. The production volume can be at the level of 48 tons a day. As for the energy consumption by the plant, 1 MW will cost only 26 dollars.
The investment round was led by Fifth Wall Climate Tech. The funds from the event will be used to decarbonize those market sectors that find it extremely difficult to move away from traditional energy sources. First and foremost, we are talking about the shipping industry, the steel industry, and the concrete industry.
Electric Hydrogen is already using a test electrolysis plant located in Massachusetts. The company plans to introduce a demonstration version next year. An important point for the startup is the opportunity to reduce the cost of hydrogen production and make it more affordable.
Electric Hydrogen’s competitors are Bloom Energy and Cummins, which already produce special units – electrolyzers. However, Electric Hydrogen has much bigger plans – its plant can operate on an industrial scale. In this way, it is possible to significantly reduce costs and increase the efficiency of hydrogen production. The startup development is a whole plant, and if necessary to increase the output volume, the customer can order the construction of one more unit. In this way, it is possible to deploy complete infrastructure in a relatively small area, which also helps to reduce the cost of production of environmentally friendly raw materials.
It should be noted that the use of hydrogen is considered an extremely promising direction, which will help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and accelerate decarbonization. The important point now is to reduce the cost of producing the substance, and a large number of companies are developing technologies for this. The interest in this green raw material is also fueled by the automotive industry, which is increasing investments in the production of hydrogen-powered cars.