Norwegian company Hystar AS has announced plans to build a fully automated 4 GW electrolyser factory in Høvik, Norway, by 2025. The company is also expanding into North America, with a location to be established in 2024 and a multi-GW factory by 2027. Hystar is in discussions with stakeholders in the US and Canada to establish its first GW factory on the continent. The company has already begun production of its electrolyser stacks and plans to select a supplier for the Høvik factory later this year. Hystar's expansion comes as the US and Canada offer incentives for clean hydrogen production.
Hystar AS announces a fully automated 4 GW electrolyser factory in Høvik, Norway (just west of Oslo), that will be delivered in 2025, with construction commencing in early 2024. Furthermore, the high-tech company is expanding into North America, establishing a location in 2024 and a multi-GW factory by 2027.
As part of its expansion, Hystar will soon initiate the hiring process for its new North American headquarters. Additionally, the company is in discussions with key stakeholders in both the United States and Canada to establish its first GW factory on the continent, where Hystar expects its commercial operations may exceed its European plans within the decade. The company has not ruled out the possibility of investing in further GW factories before 2030.
Commenting on their expansion plans, Fredrik Mowill, CEO of Hystar, says: “Our Høvik GW factory demonstrates our commitment to rapidly expanding our European operations and meeting the strong demand for our technology across Europe. As we continue to scale up our operations, we are now looking at opportunities beyond Europe – the North American market has created a highly favourable environment for companies like ours to thrive in. We are looking forward to identifying the ideal North American location for Hystar.
Both the US and Canada have attractive incentives on offer, demonstrating a clear commitment to providing our industry with much-needed certainty and financial support. Opening a North American headquarters and delivering a factory on the continent is a major milestone in Hystar’s journey to deploying green hydrogen at scale. This is critical to decarbonising the global economy.”
The news of Hystar’s strategic expansion into North America comes after the IEA released its Global Hydrogen Review last week. The report highlighted rising costs and a lack of government support as significant barriers to the widespread commercialisation of green hydrogen, crucial for decarbonising heavily polluting, hard-to-abate industries such as steel and ammonia. In contrast, the US has made ambitious hydrogen subsidies available through the Inflation Reduction Act, with plans being developed for 10 major hydrogen hubs, while Canada is making an investment tax credit available for clean hydrogen production.
Hystar has already commenced production of its electrolyser stacks for its upcoming PEM electrolyser deliveries using its existing facilities, which have a production capacity of 50 MW annually. As such, Hystar’s ramp-up to a GW factory marks a significant expansion to meet the surging demand for its breakthrough technology. The supplier for the Høvik GW automated production line will be selected later this year, and the factory’s production line will be fully operational by 2026.
Upcoming deliveries from Hystar include a 1 MW electrolyser in Q4 2023 for Norwegian companies Equinor, Yara Clean Ammonia, and Gassco, for the HyPilot field project in Kårstø, Norway. This will be followed by a 5 MW electrolyser for Poland’s largest private energy company, Polenergia, in Q3 2024 for their H2HubNS project in Nowa Sarzyna, Poland.