Electrolyser manufacturer McPhy fires CEO

French electrolyser manufacturer McPhy has terminated Laurent Carme's tenure as CEO, with immediate effect.

European competitors such as the UK's ITM Power and Norway's Nel have recently unveiled significantly stronger figures during trading updates. In May, Nel announced an 83pc year-on-year increase in its order backlog to 1,085mn kroner ($124mn), while in June ITM showed a 194pc surge to £154mn ($213mn), constituting 290MW of electrolysers. By contrast, McPhy last month forecast a 7.5pc contraction in revenue in the first half of 2021 and a slow order environment.

This has also been reflected in expansion plans. ITM and Nel were racing to build the first electrolyser "gigafactory", with ITM declaring practical completion first, in April of this year.

And both firms are already looking past that first target. In August last year, Nel was highlighting the potential for 2GW of production at its new factory in Heroya, while in April this year, ITM noted that it is "fully funded" to build a second gigawatt-scale facility.

But when McPhy announced the site location for its first gigawatt-scale factory in May, it cited a three-year development timeline and an expectation of a "gradual ramp-up to a capacity of 1GW".

The search for a replacement has begun, with chairman of the board Luc Poyer acting as temporary CEO.

McPhy expressed confidence that the hydrogen sector was growing, noting that France and Germany have committed to investing a combined €16bn in the sector by 2030.

Planned electrolyser capacity is rising fast, with national electrolyser targets now in excess of 144GW, according to ITM power.