Hystar plans 4GW Norwegian electrolyser factory and North American expansion - H2 View

Hystar plans 4GW Norwegian electrolyser factory and North American expansion | Technology | H2 View

PEM electrolyser company Hystar has announced a series of expansion plans, bidding to set up a 4GW fully automated facility in Norway by 2025 and establishing a new location in North America in 2024, along with a multi-gigawatt factory by 2027.

Having already started stack production for upcoming electrolyser deliveries, Hystar currently has production capacity of 50MW per year at its existing location. With plans to kick off the construction of the 4GW factory in Høvik in 2024, the site is expected to become fully operational by 2026.

The company has also said it is in discussions with both US and Canadian stakeholders to establish its first North American gigafactory, where it believes the commercial operations could exceed its European plans within a decade.

Saying the Norwegian site will be meeting demand for Hystar’s technology in Europe, the company’s CEO, Fredrik Mowill, added, “The North American market has created a highly favourable environment for companies like ours to thrive in.”

Mowill continued, “Both the US and Canada have attractive incentives on offer, demonstrating a clear commitment to providing our industry with much needed certainty and financial support.”

The CEO said opening a headquarters in North America along with a gigafactory came as a major milestone in the company’s journey.

Hystar has upcoming deliveries including a 1MW system for its HyPilot project in Norway with companies such as Yara, Equinor and more in Q4 2023.

Read more: Yara Clean Ammonia joins Hystar’s HyPilot project in Norway

Additionally, the company plans to deliver a 5MW electrolyser to Polish energy firm Polenergia in Q3 2024 for its H2HubNS project in Nowa Sarzyna.

The planned deliveries and expansions come after Hystar in January (2023) raised $26m in a Series B funding round to scale up to full commercial production.

Game-changing electrolyser technology – An interview with Hystar

© Hystar

Fredrik Mowill’s entry to the electrolyser game with Hystar was one of not only savvy investment decision, but also out of passion. Having been at the helm of the Netherlands-based Opra Turbines alongside his family, he oversaw the development of a new, efficient, low-emission, multi-fuel turbine technology. With Opra carrying out extensive work within hydrogen, Mowill and his family sold the business in 2017, seeing him move back to his native Norway.

“I decided early on that my next business venture would be within the hydrogen space. So, I looked around both from an investment point of view, but also in terms of what I should spend my own time on in the future,” Mowill, CEO of Hystar said to H2 View.

Following a short break from the business world, Mowill joined the independent Norwegian research organisation, SINTEF, as an advisor to try and figure out if an exciting, new, and potentially game-changing electrolyser technology could be commercialised. It was during his time at SINTEF that Mowill met inventors of the technology, Alejandro Barnett and Magnus Thomassen, and co-founded what would become a trailblazer in modern electrolyser technology, Hystar…

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