Camden County is now officially at the forefront of the green energy revolution. On Tuesday, Plug Power started production at their electrolytic liquid hydrogen production plan, the largest in the U.S. Located in Camden’s county seat of Woodbine, the plant will produce 15 tons per day of liquid electrolytic hydrogen, enough to power 15,000 forklifts per day.
“We have achieved a historic milestone for Plug and the entire hydrogen ecosystem,” said Andy Marsh, Plug Power CEO. “Bringing this green hydrogen plant online demonstrates that we are the leading builder of global hydrogen infrastructure for supporting customer demand in decarbonizing their operations.”
The facility operates eight 5-megawatt PEM (Proton exchange membrane electrolysis) electrolyzers, separating water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is then condensed into liquid for delivery to customers’ hydrogen fueling stations using Plug’s cryogenic trailers. Hydrogen usage is a critical part of a strategy to move beyond fossil fuels, particularly for “hard-to-decarbonize” industries like heavy duty transportation, manufacturing or aviation.
The news of the plant operation was a major boost to company and was accompanied by Plug CEO Andy Marsh announcing a $1.6 billion loan from the Department of Energy (DOE), enough to fund six more hydrogen plants. The loan is still contingent on approval from DOE number crunchers but the potential and scope is likely enticing, both for clean energy reasons and the continued ability to become less dependent on the fossil fuel markets that are dominated both by the U.S. but also OPEC, featuring Saudi Arabia and Russia. These new plants would allow the company to expand to 200 tons of hydrogen per day – or 200,000 forklifts. According to the Industrial Truck Association, there are about 850,000 forklifts in the country. Not all the hydrogen is bound for forklift usage but that gives some idea of the scale of the energy here.
The plant in Woodbine was finished in a mere 18 months, much quicker than the normal three years for the industry. The plant is located at the confluence of I-95 and I-10, enabling for easy access to commercial and industrial centers. Plug has additional plants in Louisiana, New York and Texas, and has built more than 60,000 fuel cell systems and more than 180 fueling stations. In addition to their own production, the company is also the largest buyer of liquid hydrogen.
Plug’s shares saw a pop on Tuesday of 19 percent, up to $3.72. Year over year, however, the stock is still down significantly when it was at $17.89 last February. Shares are way off of their peak from January of 2021 at $66.87.
