Rio Tinto joins industrial heavyweights in green hydrogen fund raise

Rio Tinto has joined a group of industrial heavyweights including Equinor, Amazon and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as investors in United States-based renewable hydrogen start-up Electric Hydrogen which plans to build green hydrogen production facilities at scale for industrial and infrastructure applications.

June 27, 2022 David Carroll

Electric Hydrogen is targeting large-scale applications.

Image: Electric Hydrogen

United States clean energy company Electric Hydrogen (EH2) has completed a $285.6 million (US$198 million) Series B raise to support its plans to build green hydrogen production plants at industrial-scale to cuts costs.

Anglo-Australian resources giant Rio Tinto was among a host of major investors which participated in the funding round. Other investors include Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Equinor, Amazon, Honeywell and tech investors S2G Ventures, Capricorn Partners and Energy Impact Partners.

EH2 said the funding will support the development of the company’s electrolyser technology and the manufacturing and the deployment of the first commercial installations of its plants. EH2 said its modular systems have a minimum 100 MW capacity and will be able to produce as much as 48 tons of hydrogen per day for industrial and infrastructure application.

EH2 cofounder and chief executive Raffi Garabedian, a former executive at American module producer First Solar, said the company’s approach is designed for the high-volume, low-cost production required to support massive industrial operations.

“This funding round fuels the next phase of our evolution. We’ve demonstrated our enabling core technology, built an amazing team and now have the capital we need to get our technology out into the world and start curbing emissions,” he said.

“Just as importantly, the participation of strategic partners at the forefront of the industries we are poised to decarbonize – energy, mining, logistics, and heavy manufacturing, to name a few – provides vital insight that will facilitate and accelerate our path to market.”

Rio Tinto has already outlined plans to explore the use of green hydrogen in its aluminium manufacturing process, including at its Bell Bay smelter in Tasmania. It has also revealed plans to convert its aluminium operations in Queensland to 100% renewables by the end of the decade.

Rio Tinto chief scientist Nigel Steward said “Rio Tinto is investing in Electric Hydrogen to support the development of emerging technologies with the potential to help decarbonize our operations and supply chains.”

“We produce materials that are increasingly required for our society’s transition to a low carbon future, so it is critical to pursue new ways to work towards net zero in supplying them,” he said.

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