Plug Power was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for nine awards for clean H₂ electrolysis, manufacturing and recycling activities covered under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The funding will support Plug’s end-to-end clean hydrogen ecosystem buildout, including electrolyzer manufacturing, electrolyzer components and fuel cell manufacturing. The list of Plug awards by the DOE include:

• Advanced PEM electrolyzer membrane for H₂ crossover mitigation:This project will develop membranes for a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer that avoids the use of perfluorinated materials. Developments will include the incorporation of additives to enable safe, pressurized electrolyzer operation.
• Advanced hydrocarbon proton exchange ionomer and membrane scale-up and electrode optimization for heavy duty fuel cells:The project will focus on reducing forever chemicals in fuel cell manufacturing. The project will develop innovative hydrocarbon membranes to replace incumbent fluorinated materials.
• Alkaline stable, non-porous, anion exchange ionomer and membrane separator scale-up for liquid alkaline electrolysis: This project will scale up manufacturing of an advanced alkaline exchange membrane with improved manufacturing processes for low-temperature electrolyzers. The membrane will be demonstrated in an alkaline electrolyzer stack to illustrate the cost reduction potential and pathway to achieving DOE cost and performance targets. If successful, this project could help expand the domestic supply chain for alkaline electrolyzer membranes.
• Gigawatt-scale electrolyzer component manufacturing and stack assembly:This project will scale up manufacturing of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer stacks to the multi-GW scale, driving down costs to meet DOE targets. This project will automate membrane electrode assembly fabrication and stack assembly and enable automated inspection with machine learning to accelerate factory acceptance testing.
• H2CIRC:The American Institute of Chemical Engineers will lead a consortium that includes national laboratories, universities and key fuel cell and electrolyzer industry partners. The project will develop and demonstrate recycling technology approaches to address end-of-life and critical supply chain challenges for proton exchange membrane fuel cells and electrolyzers. The goal of the project is to provide a blueprint for the hydrogen industry to efficiently and sustainably recover and recycle materials and components from fuel cells and electrolyzers.
• High-volume fuel cell manufacturing, stack assembly and final test:This project will enable additional domestic manufacturing capacity of 20,000 fuel cell stacks per year from a global leader in clean H₂ The project will demonstrate an innovative expansion of their current manufacturing line.
• High-throughput anode packs with advanced porous transport layers:This project will develop a unitized anode pack designed for high-throughput manufacturing of proton exchange membrane electrolyzers. The anode pack will incorporate a novel micro-expanded porous transport layer to improve performance. The novel anode pack will be evaluated by an electrolyzer manufacturer and, if proven successful, the anode pack could be considered for scale-up and commercialization.
• SPIN into power: Scaled production of integrated nonwoven gas diffusion layers for fuel cells:This project will focus on creating a new supply chain pathway for key fuel cell components with improved performance over the state-of-the-art. The project will strengthen the domestic supply chain for gas diffusion layers for low-cost fuel cells.
• Towards scalable manufacture of low iridium loading catalyst for durable PEM water electrolyzers (PEM-WE):This project will use theory to guide development of non-precious metal catalyst supports for proton exchange membrane electrolyzers that can enable cost reduction without sacrificing performance and durability.

“Plug is appreciative and excited about the DOE's clean energy manufacturing initiatives and the awards announced today. We believe that they will have a profound impact on Plug's industry-leading manufacturing capabilities in fuel cell and electrolyzer membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) and stacks," said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug. “Congress has enacted these policies and enabled these programs to advance hydrogen and fuel cells as vital components of the U.S.’ energy and climate strategy. These cost-shared programs will advance Plug’s fuel cell and electrolyzer manufacturing capacities, create good paying jobs in New York, and fortify the region’s leadership in the national clean energy transition.”