ITOCHU announces conclusion of memorandum of understanding with Nel for hydrogen business partnership.
ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced that it has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (hereinafter “MOU”) with Nel ASA (headquartered in Oslo, Norway; Jon André Løkke, Chief Executive Officer; hereinafter “Nel”), to create a strategic partnership in the hydrogen industry.
Nel is the world’s largest manufacturer of electrolysers, which are essential for green hydrogen production, in terms of production capacity, size of systems, number of systems delivered and revenues.
Nel has a track record of delivering the largest electrolyser systems in the world, and was the first electrolyser OEM to announce a 20MW purchase order in 2021. Nel is unique in that it can provide both the Alkaline and Proton Exchange Membrane (hereinafter “PEM”) type, which are the only proven commercial technologies of water electrolysis available.
Nel’s alkaline electrolyser manufacturing facility in Norway is the largest automated production facility of its kind in the world today, with 500MW/year capacity currently and the potential to scale to 2GW/year. In addition, Nel has PEM production capacity in Connecticut, USA, of around 50MW/year.
Under this MOU, Nel and ITOCHU will jointly explore hydrogen business opportunities, develop tangible projects and, as a future goal, aim to expand the hydrogen business worldwide by establishing a production, transportation and distribution hydrogen value chain together with potential partners in each area of the value chain.
Nel and ITOCHU will promote this initiative for the commercial success utilizing Nel’s nearly 100 years of experience in the hydrogen industry and ITOCHU’s international network, based on their shared belief that hydrogen is crucial for decarbonizing industry.
In addition, the parties agreed to evaluate and explore each project and business opportunity together with Osaka Gas Co., Ltd., (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Osaka; Masataka Fujiwara, President), a leading Japanese utility with experience in gas handling and hydrogen technology.
ITOCHU has set “Enhance our contribution to and engagement with the SDGs” as one of the Basic Policies in its medium-term management plan.
Under this policy, ITOCHU aims to contribute to a decarbonized society through this first MOU with a hydrogen production related system supplier and to create synergies with ITOCHU’s existing decarbonization business, such as hydrogen and ammonia.
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ITOCHU Announces Conclusion of Memorandum of Understanding with Nel for Hydrogen Business Partnership, October 8, 2021
