New Fortress Energy (NFE) has announced that it has entered an agreement with Plug Power Inc (Plug), a provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy, for a 120 MW industrial scale green hydrogen plant near Beaumont, Texas, US.

Illustration only; Courtesy of New Fortress Energy

Expected to be one of the largest of its kind in North America, the facility will leverage Plug’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology and enable the production of more than 50 tpd of green hydrogen. With the development of additional supporting infrastructure, the facility will be scalable to approximately 500 MW.

“We are pleased to enter into this agreement that marks the beginning of our collaboration with Plug, a leader in electrolysis technology that shares our vision for the role of hydrogen in accelerating a clean and secure energy transition around the world,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and CEO of NFE. “Amid an increasingly favourable US policy environment for hydrogen, we are focused on scalable solutions that have a real impact on decarbonisation and believe we are uniquely positioned to be an early mover in this vast and rapidly evolving market.”

The green hydrogen project site is strategically located on the banks of the Neches River in Jefferson County, Texas, affording proximity to industrial end-users as well as access to reliable power and superior logistics including rail, marine, and existing pipelines that span the US Gulf Coast region. The Port of Beaumont and broader Sabine-Neches Navigation District are home to an array of large scale industrial facilities in the refining, petrochemical, and other sectors that utilise hydrogen for desulfurisation and feedstock processing.

“Plug’s decarbonisation goals and NFE’s energy transition goals are strongly aligned, and our partnership has strengthened at a pivotal time for the green hydrogen industry,” Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug, said. “We are thrilled to support NFE’s first investment in green hydrogen. This facility is a model that we intend to replicate in other locations across the country.”