Hy Stor Energy, developer of the planned Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub (MCHH), has reserved 1 GW of alkaline electrolyzer capacity from Norway’s Nel ASA and added the company as a partner on Phase 1 of the hub project. The parties had signed a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract in December.
Under the newest agreement, Nel will provide alkaline and proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology at scale and contribute its hydrogen expertise. Alkaline electrolysis is often used for producing hydrogen on a large scale, as it can operate at higher densities and is less expensive than PEM electrolysis. However, the hydrogen produced by alkaline electrolysis is typically of lower purity than that produced by PEM electrolysis. Pending a final investment decision (FID) on Phase 1, electrode production at Nel’s plant in Norway is expected to run through 2025, 2026 and the first part of 2027. Hy Stor said it expects to make a FID determination by Q4 2024.
