Green hydrogen company Verdagy Inc. has entered a manufacturing agreement with a recognizable South Korean engineering and construction firm.
The Moss Landing startup announced it entered a partnership with Samsung Engineering Co Ltd to collaborate and develop green hydrogen infrastructure-scale projects in addition to a marketing agreement.
“Verdagy is accelerating the adoption of green hydrogen by providing customers the most capital-efficient, reliable and scalable electrolyzer solutions. Coupling Verdagy’s products with Samsung's engineering expertise and track record of executing infrastructure scale projects is a win for green hydrogen developers,” said Verdagy CEO Marty Neese in a news release.
According to Samsung Engineering the partnership will help accelerate the adoption of green hydrogen across various communities.
“Samsung Engineering is excited about this agreement, since Verdagy has commercialized high efficiency, reliable, cost-competitive electrolyzers,” said Wonsik Cho, vice president of Samsung Engineering, in the release. "Verdagy’s flexible architecture is also well suited for a broad set of applications and geographies, making it an ideal solution for our projects across the globe.”
Verdagy has developed an industrial-scale electrolyzer, a device that separates hydrogen and oxygen out from water. The company's device, dubbed eDynamic, is designed to cut the cost of green hydrogen — hydrogen produced in sustainable ways, without the use of fossil fuels.
Hydrogen produced from emissions-free electricity costs approximately $5 a kilogram. Verdagy's intent is to bring the cost of hydrogen down to $2 a kilogram by 2026, which would put the company on track with to meet a goal set by the U.S. Department of Energy. The department's Hydrogen Program Plan aims to cut the cost of hydrogen even further by the end of the decade.
Hydrogen by itself is seen as the ultimate clean fuel that has a wide array of applications, including powering cars and manufacturing steel. However, the majority of hydrogen produced today is derived from fossil fuels and much of it is used to refine oil, according to the DOE. Verdagy is aiming its electrolyzer at companies relying on fossil fuel-produced hydrogen that want to reduce their carbon footprint.
The partnership announcement comes a few months after the company announced it was expanding its operations to Newark.
Its newest 100,000-square-foot facility will serve as its base for large scale production and help reduce the cost of the hydrogen it sells. Operations are expected to start at the new Verdagy outpost in the first quarter of 2024.
The announcement also comes on the back of the State of California and federal government doubling down on its efforts to make California an active hydrogen hub.
California will receive $1.2 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy to spur the production and use of clean hydrogen in the state. As park of its designation as a regional hydrogen hub, California plans to use the money to fund projects to use hydrogen for electric power generation and in fuel cells that would power heavy duty trucks.
California anticipates award will leaded to the creation of more 220,000 jobs in the state — 130,000 in construction and 90,000 permanent ones, according to the DOE. The state is working with Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES), a public-private partnership, to allocate the funding and nurture its hydrogen industry.
Prior to the DOE’s award, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed the Office of Business and Economic Development to develop a strategy for building a hydrogen industry in the state.
At the time, Newsom's move excited many Bay Area companies working on hydrogen projects including Verdagy. To date, Verdagy has raised $93 million and has a valuation of $380 million, according to PitchBook Data.
