Fortescue has today (April 8) opened a 2GW PEM electrolyser factory in Queensland, Australia, as it looks to roll out a series of green hydrogen production projects globally.
The 15,000sq.m facility in Gladstone will produce Fortescue-designed electrolysers, which Mark Hutchinson, CEO of Fortescue Energy, said establishes the mining and energy firm as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
“Not only are we developing a pipeline of green energy projects, we’re also now designing and manufacturing the specialised equipment and technology that will underpin our green hydrogen production projects and that of others,” Hutchinson said.
Originally planned to be built by a 50:50 joint venture between Fortescue (then FFI) and Plug Power, the US electrolyser OEM pulled out in January 2023, suggesting it could build its own factory with better economics.
Despite the backtrack, Fortescue named Plug Power as the preferred supplier for 550MW of electrolysers for its Gibson Island Project in Queensland – intending to ship electrolysers from the US.
Read more: Plug Power named preferred electrolyser supplier for 550MW Fortescue project
Hutchinson said, the new factory, backed by AUD $44m from the Australian Government, will provide an “amazing environment” for Fortescue to learn and develop future solutions.
The 100-hectare Gladstone site will also host a variety of green tech manufacturing. The firm plans to install a 50MW green hydrogen project on-site to test systems.
Fortescue took final investment decision (FID) on the Gladstone PEM50 project in November last year (2023), anticipating an investment of $150m.
Read more: Fortescue takes $750m FID to build US and Australian green hydrogen and metals projects
Analysis: Are we really on the brink of electrolyser oversupply?
© McPhy EnergieDienst
It seems incredible that in the space of two years discussions have moved from rapidly scaling electrolyser manufacturing to the potential oversupply of the hydrogen production equipment.
We’ve come a long way from the European calls in May 2022 to “remove all obstacles,” as EU electrolyser manufacturers and the Commission committed to increase annual manufacturing capacity to 17.GW by 2025.
In recent months, however, more alarm bells have started ringing to suggest the global electrolyser market could be oversaturated by 2025.
Research house BloombergNEF (BNEF) and Citigroup has reported that 71GW of electrolyser manufacturing capacity is scheduled to be online globally by the end of 2024. However, the research said demand is only projected to reach 10GW in 20251 – a potential oversupply of 61GW…
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