US fuel-cell and electrolyser manufacturer Plug Power will provide a proton-exchange-membrane electrolyser to a green hydrogen plant being developed by infrastructure firm New Fortress Energy near Beaumont, Texas.

The facility will produce 50t/d of green hydrogen to meet demand from local industrial firms and will be scaleable to 500MW.

The Port of Beaumont and the surrounding region is home to a number of refining and petrochemical firms.

“We are thrilled to support New Fortress Energy’s first investment in green hydrogen. This facility is a model that we intend to replicate in other locations across the country,” says Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power.

New Fortress did not respond to enquiries from Hydrogen Economist on whether it has taken FID on the project or agreed offtake deals—although it has secured the site, permits, renewable power and financing.

The company noted in its second quarter results this week that the US Inflation Reduction Act looks set to make the environment for investment in green hydrogen very favourable.

“We have anticipated this legislation and are well on our way to building our first two projects,” it said in a results presentation.

The second project is a blue hydrogen production facility in Pennsylvania for which the site, permits and distribution have already been secured.

“Amid an increasingly favourable US policy environment for hydrogen, we are focused on scalable solutions that have a real impact on decarbonisation,” says New Fortress CEO Wes Edens.

In May, Plug Power won a contract to supply a 1GW electrolyser to a project in Denmark developed by Switzerland-based H2 Energy Europe, with first production expected in 2025.

It also has plans to build a facility at the Port of Antwerp to produce 35t/d of green hydrogen.

The electrolysers will be produced at Plug Power’s gigafactory in Rochester, New York. The facility is capable of producing 500MW/yr of electrolysers.

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Author: Tom Young