Fortescue takes lead investor role in Electric Hydrogen’s Series C funding round
Fortescue (ASX:FMG) has taken the lead investor role in Electric Hydrogen’s (EH2) $598m (US$380m) Series C funding round.
While FMG hasn’t disclosed how much its investment was, it was completed in June 2023.
Fortescue Energy chief executive Mark Hutchinson says the company is committed to supporting the rapid scaling of green technology to help heavy industry decarbonise.
“Right now there are not enough electrolysers in the world to support the amount of green hydrogen we are set to produce,” he said.
“That is why we are partnering with other world leaders in this space to secure our green energy supply chain, and we’re excited to invest and secure capacity with Electric Hydrogen to help us achieve our goals.”
Additionally, Fortescue and EH2 have separately signed a framework procurement agreement to supply 1GW of EH2’s electrolyser systems to FMG’s green hydrogen projects in the US and globally.
Electric Hydrogen’s electrolyser systems produce green hydrogen from renewable electricity and water at large scale. Each electrolyser system can make nearly 50t of green hydrogen per day at a transformational low cost.
EH2 co-founder and chief executive Raffi Garabedian commented on Fortescue’s investment.
“Electric Hydrogen and Fortescue share an ambition to achieve large scale, low-cost production of green hydrogen globally as soon as possible,” he said.
“We want to make fossil-free hydrogen an economic inevitability for fertiliser producers, steelmakers, chemical companies and other critical industries that have no other option to decarbonise.
“Our team is excited to begin building and commissioning our leading electrolyser technology at Fortescue project sites to deliver on that commitment.”
Electric Hydrogen was founded in late-2020 and the Series C round of funding makes it the first green hydrogen startup valued at $1.57b (US$1b). The company is aiming to drive down costs of electrolysers with the first 100MW product shipment scheduled for 2024.
