Plug Power Inc. (Latham, N.Y.) and Johnson Matthey plc (JM; London) announced a long-term strategic partnership to accelerate the green hydrogen economy. JM will become an important strategic supplier of MEA components, providing a substantial portion of Plug’s demand for catalysts, membranes, and catalyst coated membranes (CCM). Importantly, JM brings security of supply of precious metals, and unique recycling capabilities.
This strategic partnership between Plug and JM will support Plug in delivering its targeted revenue of US$5 billion and US$20 billion by 2026 and 2030 respectively. To help achieve these targets, Plug and JM will co-invest in what is expected to be the largest (5GW scaling to 10GW over time) CCM manufacturing facility in the world. The facility will be built in the United States and likely begin production in 2025. Plug and JM will also continue to leverage government incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act in the US and REPowerEU in Europe to push for exponential growth across the hydrogen industry.
“Plug is proud to expand our relationship with JM, a highly respected and skilled supply partner with a proven track record,” said Plug CEO, Andy Marsh. “This partnership will help us strengthen our supply chain and underpin our ability to deliver on the growing demand for our fuel cells and electrolyzers. With a partner like JM, Plug is in a strong position to be the global leader of the green hydrogen economy.”
Liam Condon, CEO of Johnson Matthey added: “For the rapidly developing hydrogen economy, this partnership is a game-changer. By bringing together one of the largest green hydrogen and fuel cell companies in the world with JM’s technology and manufacturing capabilities, we’re creating volume and scale for green hydrogen that hasn’t existed until now. This partnership confirms JM’s world class position in catalyst coated membranes, the key performance-defining components of electrolyzers and fuel cells.”
Plug Power is the leading user of liquid hydrogen with the world’s largest fuelling station footprint, as well as over 60,000 fuel cell systems, operating more than one billion hours across the globe. Plug is building an end-to-end green hydrogen ecosystem, from production, storage and delivery to energy generation, to help its customers – including Amazon, Carrefour, Walmart and BMW – meet their business goals and decarbonize the economy.
JM has been a leader in hydrogen for many years, founded on its core competencies in platinum group metal (PGM) chemistry and catalysis. It has an established Hydrogen Technologies business, with long-standing customer relationships and manufacturing capability of 2GW, with plans to expand to 5GW through a new 3GW gigafactory in Royston, UK. As the world’s leading secondary refiner of PGMs JM has pioneered a circular business model for the scarce metals that will also be employed for this contract, and it will look to develop further closed loop solutions.