Californian start-up Fourier has raised $18.5m in funding to commercialise its modular electrolyser systems for distributed green hydrogen production.
The company claims its technology can tackle high costs, inefficient production and complex distribution logistics.
Based on PEM electrolysis, Fourier’s system integrates water deionisation and is managed by “advanced algorithms” to boost performance by monitoring and predicting production to minimise system downtime.
Furthermore, the design can be scaled for any required capacity for “on-site, on-demand” hydrogen production, which the company says will reduce upfront costs and simplify deployments.
The firm says early pilots are displaying “exceptional” results in industries like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, metals and ceramics.
And now, backed by the series A funding raise led by General Catalyst and Paramark Ventures with participation from Airbus Ventures, GSBackers, MCJ, Borusan Ventures and more, Fourier wants to put it to the commercial test.
“With this new capital we’re scaling fast,” a company statement said.
It plans to use the funds to build up manufacturing capacity, accelerate commercial deployments and expand engineering efforts.
Distributed hydrogen production is increasingly being viewed as a critical solution for future green hydrogen systems as transport and storage costs can exacerbate already high production costs.
A recent academic paper by Havard scientists said that delivered prices of green hydrogen make it a “prohibitively expensive” option for reducing carbon emissions across various sectors.
Electrolyser industry too focused on efficiency, overlooks flexibility, says Battolyser CEO
Electrolyser manufacturers are too focused on hydrogen production efficiency, when they should be looking to make systems more flexible, Battolyser Systems’ CEO has said.
Mattijs Slee, CEO of Battolyser Systems, told the World Hydrogen Summit the electrolyser industry’s reliance on platinum group metals (PGMs) was to improve hydrogen production efficiency.
However, he suggested efficiency was something the industry as a whole is focusing on too much.
Electrolyser efficiency has been a key pillar of technology development as manufacturers and region look to reduce the cost of green hydrogen production. A more efficient system will use less electricity to produce the same volume of hydrogen.
“I think [efficency] is something that, as an industry, we are too focused,” he told the summit. “Efficiency is important. Let’s not drop the ball on this but let’s figure out a bigger issue as we are developing more renewable resources, actually being able to be flexible and convert some of the energy that is otherwise curtailed…
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