Stade Update

AFC Energy Plc

18 July 2023

 

18 July 2023

AFC Energy PLC

("AFC Energy" or the "Company")

AFC Energy's German Facility Prepares for Growth in Fuel Cell Factory Acceptance Testing

AFC Energy (AIM: AFC), a leading provider of hydrogen power generation technologies, is pleased to confirm it has renewed its Air Products GmbH ("Air Products") collaboration with a five year hydrogen supply agreement and site lease at Stade in Northern Germany.         

Highlights

·      Stade facility to become AFC Energy's preferred facility for H-Power Generator factory acceptance testing ("FAT") in preparation for growth in system deployments. 

·      Collaboration includes a five year hydrogen offtake agreement at the Stade site near Hamburg.

·      Confirms AFC Energy's commitment to the European hydrogen market, in particular Germany, which continues to see sizeable growth in market size and hydrogen availability. 

·      Germany chosen for FAT due to a materially lower price of hydrogen fuel versus the UK

·      Review to be undertaken for co-locating further development and large scale contract manufacturing of H-Power Generators in Germany or Europe to take advantage of growing market interest. 

AFC Energy is pleased to announce the renewal of its collaboration with Air Products, the world's largest hydrogen producer, through the repurposing of the Company's existing hydrogen fuel cell facility in Stade, North Germany.

The site, originally constructed in 2015 by AFC Energy to house the EU co-funded "Power-Up" programme, will now be repurposed to provide FAT of its H-Power Generator series of fuel cell systems.  With the site's existing hydrogen supply infrastructure and grid connection, the repurposing of the site will require nominal investment.   

The Stade facility is expected to employ a small number of local staff to conduct system testing and diagnostics in advance of customer deployments.  It will also position AFC Energy to support a growing number of H-Power Generator deployments in Germany and Continental Europe.

The European Union continues to invest heavily in its hydrogen sector, with Germany in particular playing a lead role in the adoption of the decarbonised fuel.  As AFC Energy grows its pipeline of projects and deployments, it is important that the Company secures its footprint in the EU.   

Germany is also seeing materially lower cost hydrogen available for commercial and facility based usage, making the decision to position AFC Energy's FAT in Germany not only a sound strategic decision, but also one which is expected to provide substantial savings to the Company over the life of the Air Products hydrogen supply agreement. 

As a consequence of this decision, AFC Energy is also commissioning a study into the potential co-location of development and large scale contract manufacturing facilities in Germany to support the growth in system deployments.  Germany benefits from an existing supply chain for fuel cell components with a large number of automotive and skilled manufacturing facilities able to meet the projected fuel cell pipeline. 

Adam Bond, Chief Executive Officer at AFC Energy, said: "The repurposing of our Stade facility creates a solid footprint within Germany and the wider EU hydrogen market whilst providing a cost effective path for our H-Power Generator factory acceptance testing programme.  The market for zero emission off-grid power generation continues to grow internationally with our Stade facility now set to become a further catalyst in the delivery of H-Power Generators within one of the world's fastest growing hydrogen markets."

For further information, please contact:

AFC Energy plc Adam Bond (Chief Executive Officer)	[phone] [e-mail]
Peel Hunt LLP - Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Richard Crichton / Tom Ballard / Georgia Langoulant	[phone]
Zeus - Joint Broker David Foreman / James Hornigold (Investment Banking) Dominic King (Corporate Broking) / Rupert Woolfenden (Sales)	[phone]
FTI Consulting - Financial PR Advisors Ben Brewerton / Tilly Abraham / Dhruv Soni	[phone] [e-mail]

About AFC Energy

AFC Energy plc is commercialising scalable "flex fuel" fuel cell systems, to provide clean electricity for on and off grid applications. The technology, pioneered over the past twelve years in the UK, is now deployable in electric vehicle chargers, off-grid decentralised power systems and data centre applications with emerging opportunities across maritime and rail as part of a portfolio approach to the decarbonisation of local electricity needs.

 

END