(PRNewswire)—Monarch Energy, a California-based green H₂ project developer, and LS Power, a New York-headquartered North American Power and Energy Infrastructure manager, have formed a partnership to deploy a portfolio of green H₂ projects throughout the U.S. LS Power plans to invest up to $400 MM into projects developed by Monarch as part of the newly established Clean Hydrogen Fuels, LLC platform.

LS Power provided $25 MM in preferred equity financing for Monarch Energy and will hold a seat on Monarch's Board of Directors. This investment will be used to advance Monarch's pipeline of projects, expand to new regions within the U.S., and continue to add top talent to the Monarch team. 

Monarch Energy is pursuing large-scale electrolyzer projects to deliver cost-competitive green H₂ to customers in the refining, chemicals, fertilizer, long-haul transport and other hard-to-decarbonize industries. Forming the Clean Hydrogen Fuels partnership will enable Monarch to leverage LS Power's broad platform of expertise across project development, commodities, environmental attribute and credit risk management, power marketing, public policy and market development, and project finance.

"Executing one of the largest pipelines of green H₂ projects in the U.S. requires access to deep pools of capital, diverse skillsets, and a commitment to innovation. LS Power consistently operates at the vanguard of new technologies and exemplifies a brand known for building complex projects at industry-leading scale. Together, we unlock the potential to achieve great outcomes in H₂ and eFuels for our customers," said Monarch Energy CEO, Ben Alingh.

"Corporations and policymakers are seeking advancements in clean fuel solutions to accelerate the energy transition," said David Nanus, President of LS Power Equity Advisors. "Green H₂ can play a leading role in this effort. Given their team's first-mover development efforts in the clean H₂ space and deep skill set, we are excited to partner with Monarch Energy to advance its project pipeline and build on our successful efforts in other clean fuel categories such as renewable natural gas."

In its September 2022 National Clean H₂ Strategy and Roadmap, the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that annual production of low-carbon H₂ has the potential to scale from less than 1 MMtpy to 10 MMtpy by 2030 and 50 MMtpy by 2050. This growth is an important part of the nation's transition to net-zero in enabling the addition of more renewable generation to the grid through long-duration energy storage and other use cases, and in creating equitable and sustainable growth while leveraging regional resources.