-- The UK invested 86.5 million British pounds ($116 million) in ITM Power UK to expand hydrogen technology manufacturing and scale up domestic production of equipment critical to low-carbon energy, the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said in a Thursday statement.
The UK's publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, invested 40 million British pounds in ITM Power UK, a subsidiary of ITM Power that manufactures equipment, mainly electrolyzers, used to produce green hydrogen in South Yorkshire.
Another 46.5 million British pounds in grant-in-principle was given by the UK government. The combined funding will support a 1 gigawatt expansion of ITM's existing facility, significantly increasing its capacity to manufacture electrolyzers.
Electrolyzers use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, producing green hydrogen without direct carbon emissions. The site will produce ITM's next-generation "Chronos" electrolyzer systems, which the company says are designed to lower production costs, improve energy efficiency, and enable faster deployment at an industrial scale.
The expansion is intended to position the UK as a leading European producer of electrolyzers, a key component in emerging hydrogen supply chains.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the funding would help strengthen energy security by increasing reliance on domestically produced clean power.
The investment is part of Great British Energy's 1 billion British pound "Energy Engineered in the UK" program, which aims to develop local supply chains for clean power technologies. As part of the deal, Great British Energy will take an equity stake in ITM Power.