A company specializing in green hydrogen turnkey solutions, Plug Power announced it had landed three 5-MW electrolyzer projects with Ardagh Glass Limmared AB, Hydro Havrand, and the APEX Group.

An electrolyzer is a unit that separates the oxygen and hydrogen in water using electricity in a process called electrolysis. Electrolysis is how green hydrogen – hydrogen that has zero or near zero emissions- is created, if the elecdtrolyzers are powered by carbon-free resources such as solar or hydropower.

The Plug Power project represents a unique use of industrial-scale hydrogen in glass manufacturing, aluminum recycling, and steel manufacturing processes in an industry notoriously difficult to decarbonize.

Ardagh Glass Limmared AB is Sweden-based company and is the only glass packaging producer in the Nordic countries. It plans to produce 2.1 metric tons per day of green hydrogen to replace part of the natural gas currently in use and use hydroelectric power to generate it from Plug’s electrolyzer.

Hydro Havrand, a unit of Norsk Hydro ASA, plans to use the electrolyzer for its aluminum recycling plant to displace natural gas in the plant’s burner at the same rate as Ardagh Glass by June 2024.

APEX Group, Plug’s Germany-based partner, will demonstrate the feasibility of green steel production through decarbonization of local blast furnaces. They will receive two of Plug’s electrolyzers to produce 4.2 metric tons of green hydrogen per day to Bremen, Germany’s public utility company by the end of 2023, with a long-term goal of full decarbonization of the steel industry in northern Germany and, eventually, all of Europe. This is in line with the European Union’s plan to decarbonize industries and the mobility sector by producing 10 million tons of green hydrogen per year by 2030.

“Plug is breaking new ground with this series of industry firsts that validate our vision to scale the green hydrogen economy,” said Plug CEO Andy Marsh. “We were bold enough to design and build the industry’s first 5MW electrolyzer module, and customers are now clambering for its holistic, compact, easy-to-install features.”