The UK government has committed £86.5mn ($115.9mn) to electrolyser maker ITM Power to build a new 1 GW/yr manufacturing line at its Sheffield site in South Yorkshire, through £40mn in equity and £46.5mn in grant funding.
State-owned energy firm Great British Energy (GBE) will take a 10.4pc stake in ITM through a £40mn share subscription, while the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz) has indicated it intends to award a £46.5mn grant in principle, subject to a subsidy control review expected to conclude in June. The grant requires ITM to hire around 250 people in the UK over five years.
The new line will manufacture ITM's next-generation Chronos proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser stack. The factory is expected to cost up to £120mn in total, leaving £33.5mn for ITM to fund itself. Commercial operation is targeted for 2028, with a final investment decision planned for June in line with grant contracting.
The funds will go towards automated production and testing equipment, which accounts for 63pc of the total, covering catalyst-coated membrane manufacturing, electrode welding, platinum group metal coating and stack assembly.
Chronos builds on ITM's existing Trident stack platform. ITM claims Chronos achieves a 40pc manufacturing cost reduction and 10pc efficiency improvement, with more than 50pc cuts in part count, weight and footprint. Stack capacity rose to 2–2.5MW per unit from Trident's 670kW. Chronos also uses 40pc less iridium, in line with ITM's goal of reducing precious metal use. The stack underwent third-party technical and commercial due diligence as part of the funding process.
ITM's current plant designs — 2MW, 5MW, 20MW and 50MW — all use the Trident platform, which will remain in production alongside the Chronos line to serve contracted customers and long-term service agreements. ITM already operates a 1GW/yr Trident line at its Bessemer Park facility.
GBE's investment follows its plan to start investing in 2026 and marks its first major move into hydrogen, having previously backed renewable generation, grid components and the offshore wind supply chain.
ITM is set to supply electrolysers to four of the ten active projects under the UK's first hydrogen allocation round (HAR1) and was selected for Uniper's 120MW bid in HAR2. The wider UK hydrogen sector continues to wait on Desnz to publish its updated hydrogen strategy and make decisions on HAR2 and other subsidy schemes.
| Breakdown of expenses for ITM's 1 GW/yr Chronos line | ||
| Category | Percentage of total (pc) | Estimated amount (£mn) |
| Manufacturing & testing equipment | 63 | 75.6 |
| Validation | 13 | 15.6 |
| Fitout (clean rooms) | 13 | 15.6 |
| Project delivery | 6 | 7.2 |
| Other (including inflation) | 5 | 6.0 |
| Total | 120 | |
| ITM Power, Argus | ||
