Securing new contracts resulted in six-month losses for hydrogen electrolyser maker ITM Power being cut back last year on 2020’s equivalent period to £ 2.6 million. Cash burn slowed too to £11.8 million, down from £14 million, the firm told investors today.
Electrolysers contracted for construction under the Sheffield manufacturer’s patent-protected PEM method rose in capacity more than fourfold year on year, to 86 MW. The firm’s contracts backlog, defined as output backlog and contracts in final negotiation and under preferred supplier status, tripled in value to £ 499 million.
The relaxation of Covid curbs over the six months allowed production to resume. The half’s revenues of £4.2 million contrasted with near-complete shutdown in 2020.
This month has brought ITM two big developments; a 24MW order in ammonia supply, and a three year grant from Germany’s federal government for the nation’s Sinewave project, which nurtures the production of electrolyser systems.
ITM offers to clients its proprietary proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology, capable of prising green hydrogen from waste plastic. In the UK the company partners with its landlord Peel in a strategy to generat the clean gas on industrial estates for supply to their tenants.
In the coming full twelve months the firm advises investors it will deliver between 33MW and 50 MW of output.
Europe remains important to ITM. It participates in the EU’s Refhyne II consortium, a five year collaboration ending next year, designed to de-carbonise operations in oil refineries. The firm will benefit from a new EU grant of Euros 32.4million for the development of a 100 MW electrolyser, sited at Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park in the Rhineland. The park should be operational this April.
ITM Power will also benefit from ScottishPower’s 20 MW hydrogen production and storage facility, to be located at Whitelee Windfarm, Britain’s biggest onshore farm at 539MW, and with 215 turbines now spinning on Eaglesham Moor, 20 minutes south of Glasgow. In November, the UK government committed cash to the facility’s first stage.
CEO Graham Cooley commented: “We are making very solid progress, with a number of projects won which have resulted in a significant increase in our work in progress. The company is focussed on delivery of products and converting the tender pipeline into contracted projects.”
Chairman Sir Roger Bone added: “(We have) invested heavily in skills and technology over the last year, and we now have a team of highly experienced professionals driving the business forward. The global market for green hydrogen is a dynamic new industry and ITM Power is very well placed as a global market leader.
ITM promises ‘spades in the ground’ after this July for construction of its second UK factory at Tinsley, two miles from its Sheffield home at Bessemer Park.
By early afternoon, ITM Power’s shares had slipped over 5% on AIM, valuing the company at £1.643 billion.
