Hydrogen Optimized will receive $300,000 in funding from NGIF Industry Grants, a division of NGIF Capital Corporation, to optimize the operation of its RuggedCell water electrolyzers using an unstable electrical supply. The funding will be applied to a $900,000 project to demonstrate the company’s large-scale green hydrogen production technology under solar panel, simulated wind turbine and intermittent electrical grid conditions.

Hydrogen Optimized’s RuggedCell water electrolyzers have a unique unipolar design which overcomes the historic difficulties of bipolar electrolysers in effectively using all the available energy from intermittent electricity sources. This, in turn, makes the RuggedCell™ an ideal solution for industrial end users to significantly reduce emissions from their processes using Green Hydrogen. 

The company's green hydrogen production systems are targeted to major industrial, chemical, utility and energy end users. According to a 2020 Goldman Sachs report, the green Hhdrogen market in Europe alone could reach US $12 trillion by 2050.

"The funding will help us obtain critical data on the performance of RuggedCell electrolyzers in conjunction with unstable renewable electricity sources and, ultimately, to achieve our goal of driving down the cost of producing Green Hydrogen at scale," said Andrew T.B. Stuart, President and CEO of Hydrogen Optimized. "It will also help us support the work of Canada’s natural gas industry to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of natural gas."

Green hydrogen produced from renewable energy can be blended with natural gas for industrial and residential applications. In addition, green hydrogen when reacted with CO₂ can produce renewable natural gas (RNG) through the methanation process.

"Next-generation hydrogen technologies including Hydrogen Optimized’s high-current water electrolyzer can enable the production of hydrogen that can be blended with natural gas and ultimately lower its emissions profile,” said John Adams, President and CEO of NGIF Capital Corporation and Managing Partner of NGIF Cleantech Ventures. “The NGIF model offers industry validation which is key to customer creation and market commercialization for startups who are leading in the emerging hydrogen industry."