Plug Power Inc confirmed it has been selected by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to receive grants for nine projects covering clean hydrogen electrolysis, manufacturing, and recycling activities.

As reported last week, the US energy department will disburse a total of USD 750 million (EUR 688m) in grant funding to 52 projects across 24 states in a drive to dramatically reduce the cost of clean hydrogen. The funding is being allocated under six topic areas: Low-Cost, High-Throughput Electrolyser Manufacturing; Electrolyser Component and Supply Chain Development; Advanced Technology and Component Development; Advanced Manufacturing of Fuel Cell Assemblies and Stacks; Fuel Cell Supply Chain Development; and Recovery and Recycling Consortium.

Either alone or as part of a consortium, Plug will benefit from almost USD 163 million in funding. The largest single award the company will get as a "project lead" amounts to USD 45.7 million. This particular sum will be used for the scaling up of PEM electrolyser stacks manufacturing to a multi-gigawatt scale. “This project will automate membrane electrode assembly fabrication and stack assembly and enable automated inspection with machine learning to accelerate factory acceptance testing,” says the government website.

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“Congress has enacted these policies and enabled these programs to advance hydrogen and fuel cells as vital components of the United States’ energy and climate strategy. These cost-shared programs will advance Plug’s fuel cell and electrolyzer manufacturing capacities, create good paying jobs in New York, and fortify the region’s leadership in the national clean energy transition.”