DOE announces $1.66B loan guarantee to Plug Power for clean hydrogen generation
17 January 2025
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced the closing of a $1.66-billion loan guarantee ($1.55 billion in principal and $107 million in capitalized interest) to Plug Power Inc.’s (Plug) subsidiary, Plug Power Energy Loan Borrower, LLC, to help finance the construction of up to six facilities across several states that will produce clean hydrogen utilizing the company’s own electrolyzer technology.
Plug submitted its application to LPO in November 2020.
The DOE is also releasing an update to the Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Clean Hydrogen report. First released in March 2023, the report has been updated to reflect the significant progress made by the US clean hydrogen industry since that time. Combined with the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub awards and additional hydrogen manufacturing projects, the updated Liftoff report and Plug Power loan guarantee underscore DOE’s continued support for clean hydrogen.
Plug has a development pipeline that includes the build-out of clean hydrogen facilities in several potential locations across the United States to supply its national customer base with end-to-end clean hydrogen at scale. Plug’s current hydrogen generation network, with plants in Woodbine, Georgia, Charleston, Tennessee, St. Gabriel, and Louisiana has a liquid hydrogen production capacity of approximately 45 tons per day.
The hydrogen fuel from the project is expected to power fuel cell-electric vehicles used in the material handling, transportation, and industrial sectors, resulting in an estimated 84% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional hydrogen production, which derives hydrogen from natural gas (CH4) and ultimately produces CO2. The benefits of harnessing hydrogen fuel cells in applications such as material handling equipment include enhanced operational efficiency, reduced environmental impact through zero-emission operations, and increased productivity due to faster refueling times compared to conventional batteries. Major corporations such as Amazon, Walmart and Home Depot use Plug’s hydrogen fuel cells across their warehouse and distribution centers.
The clean hydrogen facilities will utilize Plug’s electrolyzer stacks that are manufactured at the company’s gigafactory in Rochester, NY and will use modular designs to ensure a resilient hydrogen fuel delivery network. Plug is among the leading commercial-scale manufacturers of electrolyzers in the United States and currently operates the largest Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer system in the United States at its Georgia hydrogen plant.
Posted on 17 January 2025 in Hydrogen, Hydrogen Production, Market Background
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