Ballard Power Systems has been awarded $54m of investment tax credits which will be used to support its planned fuel cell gigafactory.
Funded via the US Internal Revenue Service as part of the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit (48C), through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the facility based in Rockwall, Texas, is expected to reach a final investment decision (FID) later this year.
The 48C programme provides 30% investment tax credits for selected clean energy manufacturing projects and advance clean energy supply chains. Ballard also received $40m in US funding for the project from the Department of Energy (DOE) last month (March), bringing its total investment so far to $94m.
Read more:Ballard utilises US funding to support the development of 3GW fuel cell gigafactory
With approximately $110m set to be invested into the plant from 2024 through to the end of 2027, the Rockwall facility will produce up to 20,000 fuel cell stacks and fuel cell engines per year, with future phases to increase production capacity planned.
Ballard’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark Biznek, explained that the manufacturing facility is an “important initiative in [Ballard’s] ‘local for local’ global manufacturing plan,” enabling growth and financial returns on Ballard’s invested capital.
He continued, “We plan to manufacture next generation fuel cell products incorporating the benefits of our work relating to technology innovation and design changes, supply chain collaboration and the introduction of volume production processes and advanced automation to drive down costs.”
Randy MacEwen, Ballard’s President and CEO, added, “This represents significant investment leverage as we plan to bring scaled, advanced manufacturing of next-generation fuel cells online in late 2027 – at the same time when we expect to reach capacity constraints of our existing North American production facilities based on our forecasted growth and production volumes.”
The anticipated FID will depend on completion of customary conditions, such as necessary approvals and definitive documentation.
The Canadian headquartered company recently revealed it had received its largest order of fuel cell units from the hydrogen-powered bus developer Solaris Bus & Coach.
Read more: Ballard to supply 1,000 fuel cells to Solaris Bus & Coach
gasworld’s North American Hydrogen Summit 2024
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