Lhyfe Secures Deal with Plug for 50 MW PEM Electrolyzers

France-based Lhyfe, a pure player in renewable green hydrogen, has placed an order for ten 5 megawatt (MW) European manufactured PEM (proton exchange membrane) electrolyzer systems with Plug Power, a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy, for production of green hydrogen across multiple plants in Europe. This is the largest electrolyzer order placed by a French company.

With these electrolyzers of a total capacity of 50 MW (equivalent to up to 20 tons per day), Lhyfe aims to produce a renewable green hydrogen using primarily wind and solar-power for various mobility applications in Europe, including forklifts and light commercial vehicles, such as the Master Van from Hyvia, Plug’s joint venture with Renault with hydrogen deliveries as early as 2023. Lhyfe and Plug, having initiated a strategic relationship in October 2021, will also jointly develop 300MW of renewable green hydrogen plants across Europe by 2025.

“We’re moving quickly to deliver on a shared ambition with Lhyfe to reduce carbon emissions in Europe’s mobility sector at scale. Renewable green hydrogen demand will only increase as both the private and public sectors seek to decarbonize operations to reach sustainability goals as well as improve energy security,” said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug. “In addition to high-performing electrolyzers, we are bringing to Lhyfe deep mobility opportunities through our joint venture with Renault and our experience deploying hydrogen-powered forklift solutions for customers like Amazon and Walmart.”

The electrolyzers will be assembled in Europe. Plug’s 5MW turnkey electrolyzer is the largest available outdoor solution with the smallest footprint in the market.

Lhyfe will be developing each hydrogen plant, achieving high performance. Lhyfe will also operate each site, managing of renewable energy as well as renewable green hydrogen commercialization and delivery.

Matthieu Guesné, founder and CEO of Lhyfe said, “This milestone demonstrates the acceleration of the development of Lhyfe’s production unit projects. We have now demonstrated our ability to produce renewable green hydrogen from renewable energies and the relevance of our strategy to deploy numerous production sites for environmentally friendly and accessible hydrogen throughout Europe. It is now time to implement our projects. Expectations are high: this successful partnership with Plug Power allows us to meet them with confidence.”

Plug has been a leader in PEM electrolysis for nearly 50 years and was recently named the number one hydrogen electrolyzer company by Guidehouse Insights. The company has been present in Europe for over a decade and has made significant progress in deploying hydrogen applications with key European industrial, logistics and vehicle manufacturing customers, including a joint venture with Renault called HYVIA. From its European Service and Logistics Center in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Plug has installed or won contracts for several PEM technology solutions in Germany, France, The Netherlands, Italy and Portugal.