BayoTech Inc., the Albuquerque-based hydrogen production and transportation company, on Thursday started operations at its first completed hydrogen production hub in an exurb of St. Louis, which the startup hopes will be the first of many across the United States and, eventually, overseas.
BayoTech held a ribbon-cutting event Thursday morning for its new hydrogen production facility in Wentzville, Missouri. The company built the facility through a partnership with Ranken Technical College, based in St. Louis; it's located on Ranken’s Wentzville campus, at 755 Parr Road.
The Wentzville production hub is expected to produce around 600 kilograms of hydrogen per day — or about 350 tons of hydrogen per year — using pipeline natural gas as feedstock. The production plant is owned by BayoTech.
BayoTech, founded in 2016, is focused on creating small-scale hydrogen production plants designed to more quickly and cheaply provide hydrogen compared with larger-scale production facilities. It also provides hydrogen transportation and storage services.
Its hydrogen hubs are designed for "localized" production, meant to involve lower transportation costs and easier on-site access for hydrogen-using companies and vehicles.
BayoTech’s first "anchor" customer for its Wentzville facility is Nikola Corp. (Nasdaq: NKLA), a Phoenix-based manufacturer of hydrogen-powered trucks. BayoTech in July said it has entered into a hydrogen transport and offtake agreement with Nikola's HYLA brand that involves purchasing hydrogen produced at BayoTech's hubs, starting with the Missouri plant.
Catharine Reid, BayoTech's chief marketing officer, told Albuquerque Business First this summer that emerging hydrogen markets like long-haul trucking or busing fleets are the company's primary customer targets. She said on Thursday its Missouri hub could service a fleet of between 20 and 30 hydrogen fuel cell-powered trucks.
BayoTech in December 2022 announced it had broken ground on its hydrogen production facility in Wentzville. It chose the site as its first production facility because of its partnership with Ranken, said BayoTech President and CEO Mo Vargas. BayoTech and Ranken plan to work together to create new education programs focused on hydrogen production.
Initial conversations with Ranken were focused solely on a training partnership, but progressed to include plans for the hub, Vargas said.
“What better way to train than having an actual hub here,” he told St. Louis Inno, a sister publication of New Mexico Inno, on Thursday.
Ranken has its main campus in St. Louis and sites in Troy, Wentzville and Perryville, Missouri. The private, nonprofit institution offers programs in automotive, electrical, construction, information technology and manufacturing.
Vargas said BayoTech was introduced to Ranken through Ferguson, Missouri-based industrial technology giant Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR). BayoTech in 2021 forged a partnership with Emerson that involves using the Ferguson-based industrial giant’s automation technology to produce its hydrogen.
In addition to its relationships with Emerson and Ranken, BayoTech is also a portfolio company of St. Louis venture capital firm Cultivation Capital.
BayoTech said it privately funded the development of its new Wentzville hydrogen hub. It declined to share its investment costs, though Vargas said it costs about $15 million to $30 million for the company to build out its hubs, depending on size. BayoTech said it worked with more than 20 St. Louis-area companies that provided supplies and services for construction.
Vargas said BayoTech plans to build more than a dozen hydrogen hubs in the next four to five years. The next of those planned production hubs will be at the Port of Stockton, about 90-minute drive east of San Francisco. Reid, the company's chief marketing officer, said BayoTech is working through permitting currently and expects the second hub to be completed by the middle of next year.
A third hub is planned for Southern California, although BayoTech isn't providing more specific details on location or timeframe. An Albuquerque hub could be in the works as well, but Reid didn't provide any updates on its progress.
BayoTech in January 2021 announced it had raised $157 million in financing.
