Plug Power signs agreements with Airbus, Phillips 66 and Airflow

Plug Power and Airbus

Plug Power has signed a strategic partnership with Airbus to study the feasibility of bringing green hydrogen to future aircraft and airports worldwide.

The partnership aims to accelerate the aviation industry’s transition to climate-neutral air travel. Plug Power will build deployment scenarios for green hydrogen infrastructure at airports, while Airbus will provide insight on hydrogen aircraft characteristics.

Andy Marsh, CEO for Plug Power, “We’ve already revolutionized electric trucks and industrial fleets on the ground, so now we’re turning our sights to the skies.”

Glenn Llewellyn, Airbus VP, Zero-Emission Aircraft, commented, “This partnership with Plug Power – a true pioneer in developing green hydrogen infrastructure across the United States, and key points across Europe and Asia – will enable us to leverage their expertise to decarbonize airports while preparing them for the arrival of hydrogen aircraft by 2035.”

Plug Power and Phillips 66

Meanwhile, Plug Power and Phillips 66 have agreed to collaborate on developing low-carbon hydrogen business opportunities. Under the MoU, the partners will explore ways to deploy Plug Power’s technology within Phillips 66’s operations. They will integrate and scale low-carbon hydrogen in the industrial sector, advance hydrogen fueling opportunities for the mobility sector, and develop hydrogen-related infrastructure to support the build-out of the hydrogen value chain.

Phillips 66 owns an extensive hydrogen-related infrastructure and uses hydrogen in the manufacturing of transportation fuels. Plug Power will benefit from Phillips 66’s capabilities as a developer of large-scale energy infrastructure, industrial-scale hydrogen production facilities operator, and presence in the fuels marketing segment in the US and Europe.

David Bow, Executive VP of Electrolyzers Solutions at Plug Power, said, “Phillips 66 stands to help us meet our goal of producing 1,000 tons per day of green hydrogen while deploying cost-efficient solutions within the renewable fuels sector.”

Heath DePriest, VP of Phillips 66’s Emerging Energy group, commented, “Hydrogen is a key component of our diversified Emerging Energy portfolio strategy.”

Plug Power and Airflow

In another development, Plug Power has signed an investment agreement with Airflow- an aerospace company building a next-gen electric Short Takeoff and Landing (eSTOL) aircraft.  Under this new partnership, the partners are co-developing and certifying hydrogen fuel cell-based propulsion systems designed for a new generation of sub-regional aircraft.

Plug Power will also serve as Airflow’s preferred hydrogen provider, opening up more opportunities for Plug Power’s hydrogen refuelling infrastructure to co-locate at customer airports. This work extends Plug Power’s ongoing partnership with Albany International Airport, where their hydrogen fuel cell solutions power ground support equipment.

As part of this program, Airflow and Plug Power will integrate and test a full-scale, ground-based powertrain prototype. Following this successful ground demonstration, the teams will then retrofit the powertrain into an aircraft with the ultimate certification goal. Airflow has recently secured over $600 million in Letters of Intent (LOIs) from eleven airlines operating sub-regional aircraft.

Andy Marsh, Plug Power CEO, added, “We see the development and certification of a system for Airflow’s Part 23 aircraft as an ideal entry point into the aerospace market that enables expansion into larger aircraft programs.”

Marc Ausman, CEO of Airflow, noted, “This initial investment from Plug Power is important to our ongoing development work at Airflow, and we’re thrilled to have an industry leader in the hydrogen economy supporting our ambitious objectives.”