Two separate pieces of news in the last fortnight have pointed to the growing strength of Norwegian companies in the nascent green hydrogen industry.

In the first, Norwegian company Nel Hydrogen announced that it had selected Plymouth Charter Township, a suburb in Detroit in the US state of Michigan for the site of its next ‘gigafactory’ for making electrodes for electrolysers. When fully built out, subject to a positive final investment decision being made, the new factory will have a total annual capacity of “4 GW alkaline and PEM technology”. Support has come from the state of Michigan, with the Michigan Strategic Fund to provide a US$10 million grant, while a 15-year, 100% State Essential Services Assessment (SESA) Exemption Request (valued at up to US$6.25 million) will also be provided. Financing of US$50 million has already been secured, and Nel has said that this could rise to US$150 million should state and federal “applications” be approved. The Inflation Reduction Act is also providing financial incentives for the project. 

In the other piece of news, fellow Norwegian manufacturer of electrolysers Hystar is planning to massively upgrade its plant in Høvik, near Oslo, up from the current 50 MW to 4 GW per year, with a completion some time in 2026. The company secured US$26 million from its backers – including Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel Trading – at the start of the year, and it is presumed that other financing has also been secured. Similar to Nel, Hystar is also considering a new factory in the USA, lured by the financial incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Hystar CEO Fredrik Mowill said as part of the Høvik announcement that there was a “very big gap” between installed capacity for producing electrolysers and the targets set by governments.