Clean hydrogen producer Verdagy will install Mainspring Energy's linear generators at its plant in California to power its electrolyzer manufacturing, marking the first time Mainspring's fuel-flexible units will run solely on hydrogen on a commercial scale.
The companies expect operations to begin this summer, they said in a joint statement Wednesday. Verdagy said the partnership is key to demonstrating that its alkaline water electrolyzers (AWE) can be paired with dynamic operations that turn on and off quickly at a rapid pace — a key requirement when feeding them with intermittent renewable power. Traditionally, AWE, the most mature method of water electrolysis, has been used to fuel more consistent, or static, operations with little fluctuations in power supply. Dynamic run rates would lead the electrolyzer to degrade more rapidly over time. Verdagy is keen to show its dynamic alkaline electrolyzers can be paired with units seeking cleaner sources of power that are more variable.
"The industry has a long history of understanding the weaknesses of traditional AWE, and what we're bringing to the party is a new approach where people will say 'I didn't know that was possible with an alkaline-based system,'" Verdagy chief executive Marty Neese told Argus in an interview. "Verdagy and Mainspring Energy are demonstrating how we can improve energy resiliency for the electrical grid, data centers and other applications," said Neese.
Mainspring's stackable, 250kW linear generators are powered by gaseous fuels, which can include natural gas, propane, hydrogen and ammonia. The company has tens of megawatts deployed around the US, offering backup power generation for industrial users — such as cold-storage facilities, logistics centers and EV chargers — data centers and utilities, and expects to install tens of megawatts more this year and next. "We have hundreds of megawatts in development, said Mainspring founder and chief executive Shannon Miller, who declined to provide more precise figures.
Mainspring began deploying its units in 2020. The fuel-flex design allows Mainspring customers to transition to cleaner burning fuels as they become more commercially available. The same unit that runs on natural gas or biogas today can switch to hydrogen or ammonia, depending on what the customer's roadmap to zero-carbon looks like, said Miller.
"Utilities are the most interested in terms of our pipeline," said Miller. "They all still have zero-carbon mandates, even if they're pushed out to 10 or 20 years.
Some of Mainspring's installed capacity is fueled by blends that include hydrogen, but to date none of its customers have used only hydrogen to power the generators such as Verdagy is expecting to do.
"We've done a lot of testing in our own operation, but having it demonstrated commercially is always a good step for customers to see," said Miller.
