Electrolyser manufacturer ITM Power has seen a 74pc increase in work in progress from 43MW in April last year to 75MW in April this year, according to a trading update from the firm.

The update covers work in progress and the contracts backlog as well as unaudited financial results expected for the financial year ending 30 April 2022. 

The firm’s contracts backlog—an indicator of the number of future contracts—stood at 755MW at year-end, up from 290MW at the same point last year.

Of the 755MW of backlog, 75MW is contracted but not underway and 342MW is under negotiation, while for 338MW ITM is the preferred supplier.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the intent of many countries to increase energy and food security, with a specific focus on green hydrogen” Cooley, ITM

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the intent of many countries to increase energy and food security, with a specific focus on green hydrogen, as shown by the recent UK government and RepowerEU announcements,” says ITM CEO Graham Cooley.

“We believe we can gain a material share of these global markets as a result of our experience, expertise, partnerships and capacity.”

During the year, the firm secured contracts to construct a 24MW electrolyser for fertiliser firm Yara in Norway and a 4MW system for RWE in Germany, and received a £9.3mn ($11.7mn) contract from the UK government to build a 5MW electrolyser stack.

Other projects the firm has contracted for recently include Germany’s Sinewave, the Refhyne development at Shell’s Rheinland refinery and the Whitelee windfarm.

Growing product suite

The firm has also developed ITM Power Service—a customer support service designed to provide full product lifecycle support for deployed electrolyser systems. The facility will house spare parts and will be located in Linden, Germany.

At the end of last year, ITM raised £250mn in equity financing to support the expansion of its manufacturing facilities to meet growing demand.

ITM’s 1GW/yr facility at Bessemer Park in Sheffield was completed in January, and the firm recently acquired a site for a second factory in nearby Tinsley capable of producing 1.5GW/yr of electrolysers that it hopes to be fully operational by the end of 2023. Construction will start in the second half of this year.

A third international facility, expected to have 2.5GW/yr of capacity, will bring the firm’s total electrolyser manufacturing capacity to 5GW/yr by the end of 2024.

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Author: Tom Young