U.S. startup Power to Hydrogen joins NextHy Booster, our Group's program that offers companies specializing in hydrogen the opportunity to access a fast track to validate their technology by signing a long-term partnership with our company. In this way, through Enel Green Power we will support the growth of the company, whose mission is to make green hydrogen competitive with fossil fuels to help hard-to-decarbonize sectors eliminate climate-changing emissions.
Goal: low-cost green hydrogen
The idea behind the U.S.-based startup, which has already won numerous awards, came about during a research and development project on new materials for electrolyzers. In fact, P2H2's cutting-edge technology is based on a unique cell design that takes advantage of common, low-cost materials to facilitate on-site hydrogen generation.
The company's flagship project, Clean Energy Bridge™, is an Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolyzer that converts renewable electricity and water into hydrogen and oxygen at high pressure through the use of an inexpensive alkaline membrane. It is a durable electrolyzer technology that makes it possible to generate high-pressure hydrogen on-site and can offer a solution to many of the logistical challenges associated with hydrogen production and transportation. Cleanly produced hydrogen becomes a key tool for the decarbonization of those industries where direct electrification is not possible, i.e., the so-called "hard-to-abate" sectors.
"Hard-to-abate industrial sectors are a priority," explains Paul Matter, co-founder of Power to Hydrogen, "but hydrogen can also be an energy carrier for long-range transportation (such as shipping and aviation) or for long seasonal storage, and can then be converted back into energy using a fuel cell or turbine, in contexts where there’s a large supply of intermittent renewables."
NextHy Booster: fertile ground for hydrogen startups
Green hydrogen is a central pillar of our Group's strategy on the path to decarbonization and a perfect complement to achieve direct electrification. Collaboration with startups like P2H2 is particularly important, because they are able to make green hydrogen more affordable through innovative solutions. Working with a solid partner like Enel allows startups to actually test their potential and enter the market. "As a startup, we've noticed that other large companies are more hesitant to work with young companies, whereas Enel was willing to take that risk and is now the first customer to validate the technology," says Matter, whose hope is that the program will "lead to further long-term collaborations."
For the past few months, the American startup has been producing small-scale systems based on its technologies, the first of which is already being tested in our company. The goal of the collaboration is to help Power to Hydrogen develop these solutions at the industrial level and create a strong position on the European market.
These goals are achievable for other startups as well, explained Paolo Prevedello, Storage & Hybrid Systems Innovation Engineer at Enel Green Power and Head of the NextHy Booster program: "By participating in the NextHy Booster program, a startup can benefit from a dedicated work plan tailored to its specific needs in order to accelerate the industrial transition, as well as have the opportunity to quickly and effectively validate its solution, positioning itself as an important point of reference for the market."