Plug Power shares fall on North America hydrogen concerns

Plug Power, a company that is building an end-to-end green hydrogen ecosystem, saw its stock fall more than 30% on the Nasdaq on Friday, following its report stating that its 2023 financial performance was negatively affected by unprecedented supply challenges in the North American hydrogen network, despite a more than threefold increase in electrolyzer sales.

The New York-based company said it will seek additional capital to fund its activities, expressing confidence that the hydrogen supply issue is temporary, expecting full capacity production at its Georgia and Tennessee facilities by year end.

Green hydrogen reportedly has a bright future. According to a report from the Deloitte Center for Sustainable Progress (DCSP) the hydrogen fuel produced by renewable energy sources set global market milestones of $642 billion by 2030, $980 billion by 2040, and $1.4 trillion by 2050, with growth in the industry split among the major global economies relatively evenly by mid-century. 

Hard-to-abate sectors like steelmaking, chemical manufacturing, aviation and global shipping require high amounts of energy dispatch, something that can be difficult for electrochemical batteries to achieve. While batteries may serve mobile devices, electric vehicles, and grid-scale energy storage, hydrogen may present a viable path forward for decarbonizing these high-dispatch use cases.

The report said that these sectors may drive hydrogen demand and use six-fold by 2050, leading to nearly 600 million tons of hydrogen fuel use. While hydrogen electrolysis requires large amounts of electricity, the only byproduct of burning hydrogen fuel is water, making it an emissions-free source when created by renewable sources.

Read more about Deloitte’s report here.