Hystar AS is to receive a €26mn grant from the EU Innovation Fund, one of the world’s largest funding programs for innovative low-carbon technologies. The grant will be used for the installation and operation of an automated gigawatt-scale production line for its PEM electrolyser stacks at the company’s Hovik, Norway headquarters.
Hystar’s patented PEM electrolyser technology has been optimized for scalability, and all products use the same mass–produced stacks. By automating the stack production, combined with the ability to utilize existing supply chains for key components, it is able to rapidly scale its operations and make green hydrogen more affordable and accessible.
Hystar is already producing stacks for commercial projects at its existing production line at Hovik which has an annual capacity of 100 MW. The EU Innovation Fund grant will enable the company to implement its automated GW factory, with an annual capacity of 1.5 GW when the factory goes into operation in 2027, and scale to 4.5 GW of annual capacity in 2031.
“Our Høvik GW factory demonstrates our commitment to rapidly expanding our European operations and meeting the strong demand for our technology globally,” said CEO Fredrik Mowill. “The EU Innovation funding will enable us to drive unseen levels of cost and production efficiencies, which is particularly important across hard-to-abate sectors. With this grant from the EU Innovation Fund, Hystar is now positioned to be the industry leader in stack manufacturing at an industrial scale, as it undertakes widespread deployment of its breakthrough technology. We manufacture the world’s most efficient PEM stacks, which are optimized for mass manufacturing.”
The automated factory will utilize stack components already being produced in high volume from the fuel cell industry, which enables rapid scaling of stack manufacturing and supports the European hydrogen value chain. It recently awarded the German industrial engineering company thyssenKrupp automation engineering with the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for the supply of the automated electrolyser manufacturing line.
Additionally, Hystar plans to build a multi-GW factory in North America by 2027 where it expects that its commercial operations may exceed its European plans within the decade. The company has not ruled out the possibility of investing in further GW factories before 2030.
Once operational, the Hystar GW factory will be the electrolyser manufacturing line with the highest output, as well as utilizing the lowest area footprint and investment needed, all with the purpose to make green hydrogen as competitive as possible, says the company. For more info, see www.hystar.com.
Stay tuned to New Power Technology for more reports on awards from the recent landmark grants from EU Innovation Fund.
