Hydrogen

DOE offers up to $1.66B for Plug Power’s hydrogen production

DOE offers up to $1.66B for Plug Power’s hydrogen production
Plug Power's green hydrogen transportation tanker. (Courtesy: Plug Power)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has announced a conditional commitment to Plug Power’s subsidiary, Plug Power Energy Loan Borrower, LLC, for an up to $1.66 billion loan guarantee. The capital will help finance the construction of up to six facilities across several states to produce clean hydrogen utilizing the company’s own electrolyzer technology.

This loan guarantee, if finalized, will support an estimated 100-300 jobs during the construction period when at full capacity, and at least 50 new full-time jobs for each location.

News of the awaited funding announcement sent PLUG’s stock soaring Tuesday.

Plug has a development pipeline that includes the build-out of clean hydrogen facilities in several potential locations across the United States to supply its national customer base with end-to-end clean hydrogen at scale. If finalized, the project will support an integrated commercial-scale clean hydrogen fueling network across several regions of the United States.

Episode 60 of the Factor This! podcast features Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power, who believes the U.S. could become a green hydrogen superpower. Or it could squander the opportunity of a lifetime. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

The hydrogen fuel from the project is expected to power fuel cell-electric vehicles used in the material handling, transportation, and industrial sectors. 

The clean hydrogen facilities will utilize Plug’s electrolyzer stacks manufactured at the company’s gigafactory in Rochester, New York. Plug is among the leading commercial-scale manufacturers of electrolyzers in the United States and currently operates the largest Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer system in the United States at its Georgia hydrogen plant. 

Electrolyzers use electricity to split water into its component parts, hydrogen and oxygen. Electrolyzers that use renewables to power their hydrogen production produce emissions-free clean hydrogen. The electrolyzer stacks can be configured to produce systems at 1 MW, 5 MW, and 10 MW scales.

The financing would be offered through LPO’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, which includes financing opportunities for innovative energy and supply chain projects like Plug’s, certain state-supported projects, and projects that reinvest in existing energy infrastructure.

While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan guarantee.

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