Germany’s Sunfire GmbH has reportedly secured funding of USD 126 million, to bolster its role in fast-growing markets for renewable source-derived green hydrogen. According to the Dresden-based clean-tech company, the funding was raised from private equity investors like London-based Planet First Partners (PFP), and Lightrock; New York-based Carbon Direct as well as British HydrogenOne Capital which is supported by energy and chemical group INEOS.
In addition, Sunfire confirmed that Goldman Sachs Bank Europe acted as placement agent and financial adviser to the company.
Nils Aldag, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Sunfire stated that the company’s electrolysis technologies are crucial for increasing the supply of green hydrogen that is required for decarbonizing industrial companies at a substantial scale.
In October, Sunfire stated that it would expand its yearly production capacity of alkaline electrolysers to around 500 MW per annum by 2023, from the present capacity of 40 MW. Demand for the capacity of electrolysis in the European Union is predicted to increase to 40,000 MW by 2030 from the existing demand of under 1,000 MW.
Germany and the European Union intend to create a green hydrogen sector based on non-fossil resources as part of its strategy of decarbonization. Electrolysers play a crucial role in that sector as they use electric current from solar and wind plants to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. In this manner, surplus production of renewable electricity can be stored on caverns as well as gas networks, and the hydrogen can be utilized in energy, industry, fueling fuel cell vehicles, and heating buildings.
Currently, traditional or ‘grey’ hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels in a different process and serves a smaller range of industry applications. The application scope of grey hydrogen may diminish gradually as its green variant continues to arrive at a larger scale.
For the record, Sunfire has expertise in high-temperature electrolysis as well as alkaline pressure electrolysis method, equipping it to acknowledge a wide range of use cases.
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