London-listed investment fund HydrogenOne Capital Growth has bought a minority stake in Estonia-based fuel cell and electrolyser manufacturer Elcogen for £20mn ($24.7mn).

Elcogen specialises in solid-oxide technologies and has developed a reversible ceramic technology that can convert hydrogen into emission-free electricity, or electricity into green hydrogen. Solid-oxide fuel cells and electrolysers can run with efficiency greater than 80pc and Elcogen’s core technology is able to operate at lower temperatures than competitors, resulting in superior economics, HydrogenOne says.

“There is substantial demand for fuel cells and electrolysers as the clean hydrogen sector continues to grow at rapid pace,” says Simon Hogan, chairman of HydrogenOne. 

“There is substantial demand for fuel cells and electrolysers as the clean hydrogen sector continues to grow at rapid pace” Hogan, HydrogenOne

“We look forward to supporting the company on its growth journey as it expands its solid oxide capacity for customers. HydrogenOne continues to deploy our investors’ capital into distinctive and high potential hydrogen assets.”

Elcogen is planning an expansion of its facilities in Tallinn to create an automated production line for solid-oxide fuel cells and stacks, initially scaled at 25MW/yr but designed to rise to 50MW/yr.

HydrogenOne’s investment in the company comes as Europe’s electrolyser manufacturing sector looks to ramp up capacity to keep pace with demand. The European Commission has recently pledged a raft of new financial and regulatory measures to help electrolyser manufacturers grow capacity tenfold by 2025 to meet the EU’s new RepowerEU green hydrogen production targets.

---

Author: Stuart Penson