U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Congressman (NY) Joe Morelle today announced over $90 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing, Recycling, and Electrolysis programs created in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.
The lawmakers said this will help bolster Upstate New York as a continued global leader for clean hydrogen production by advancing cutting edge R&D to help NY companies like Plug Power improve manufacturing capabilities at its facilities, including its Rochester, NY gigafactory, directly supporting Upstate’s clean energy workforce and supercharging innovation in the fight against climate change. Plug Power will receive over $75 million in federal money.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law is helping supercharge Upstate NY’s clean hydrogen sector. With this federal funding, Plug Power and other cutting-edge companies will be able to increase production capacity and spark new innovation to reach the next frontier of clean hydrogen manufacturing and research, all while supporting good paying clean energy jobs and boosting the fight against climate change” said Senator Schumer. “Clean green hydrogen is one of the most exciting forms of new energy production and with the major federal investments being made thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act I championed, Upstate NY is poised to lead the way in powering America’s clean energy future.”
“New York is a leader in green energy and innovative technologies—thanks in no small part to the work of Rochester businesses like Plug Power and Ionomr Innovations,” said Congressman Joe Morelle. “I congratulate them on this significant investment which is a testament to the cutting-edge work they do to bring our economy into its green energy future. I’m proud to have worked alongside Senator Schumer to secure this funding, and I look forward to more opportunities to work alongside him and my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to bring more federal investments like this one home to Rochester.”
“Plug is appreciative and excited about the DOE’s clean energy manufacturing initiatives and the awards announced today. We believe that they will have a profound impact on Plug’s industry-leading manufacturing capabilities in fuel cell and electrolyzer MEAs (Membrane Electrode Assemblies) and stacks,” said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug. “Congress has enacted these policies and enabled these programs to advance hydrogen and fuel cells as vital components of the United States’ energy and climate strategy. These cost-shared programs will advance Plug’s fuel cell and electrolyzer manufacturing capacities, create good paying jobs in New York, and fortify the region’s leadership in the national clean energy transition.”
The five awards in Upstate New York and project descriptions can be found below:
| Recipient | Dollar Amount | Project |
| Plug Power | $45,700,000 | The goal of this project is to establish and implement automation capabilities within our high-performance PEM stack manufacturing facility in Rochester, New York capable of producing 5,000 1 MW stacks per year.
This project will scale-up manufacturing of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer stacks to the multi-GW scale, driving down costs to meet DOE targets. This project will automate membrane electrode assembly fabrication and stack assembly and enable automated inspection with machine learning to accelerate factory acceptance testing. |
| Plug Power | $30,000,000 | This project will demonstrate a production pathway to meet a projected 2030 system cost of $80/kW for 100,000 heavy duty fuel cell systems per year and automate the manufacturing of high-performance, low-defect membrane electrode assemblies, in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Lab.
The project will demonstrate an innovative expansion of their current manufacturing line. |
| Ionomr Innovations, Inc. | $6,100,000 | This project will develop an advanced alkaline exchange membrane with improved manufacturing processes for low-temperature water electrolyzers. The membrane will be demonstrated in an alkaline electrolyzer stack to illustrate the cost reduction potential and pathway to achieving DOE cost and performance targets. If successful, this project will greatly expand the domestic supply chain for alkaline electrolyzer membranes. |
| Ionomr Innovations, Inc. | $5,000,000 | The project targets the critical path to reducing forever chemicals in fuel cell manufacturing. The project will develop innovative hydrocarbon membranes to replace incumbent fluorinated materials. |
| Ecolectro, Inc. | $3,600,000 | This project will develop new alkaline exchange membrane materials for testing in large-format electrolyzer cells in collaboration with polymer chemistry experts. These new materials will be developed to improve durability to meet DOE targets. |
The representatives said today’s funding is part of the Biden administration’s recently announced $750 million investment for projects across the country to dramatically reduce the cost of clean hydrogen and reinforce America’s global leadership in the growing clean hydrogen industry—funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
