US green hydrogen technology company Plug Power has closed a $1.66bn loan guarantee with the Loan Programs Office of the Department of Energy (DOE), just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Plug and the DOE had in May last year announced a conditional agreement to the loan guarantee, which would see the US government cover debts of up to $1.66bn if the electrolyser maker were to default on its loans. This guarantee reduces banks' risks when loaning money to the heavily indebted company, enabling it to access private loans at lower interest rates than it would otherwise be able to obtain.
The company’s CEO, Andy Marsh, had earlier this month told Hydrogen Insight that if the loan guarantee was not signed off before Trump’s inauguration, it would likely require a new set of signatures from the incoming administration — which could be more hostile to Plug Power.
High-ranking Republican senator John Barrasso had last year called for a probe of the loan guarantee, alleging a conflict of interest between Plug and Jigar Shah, the director of the Loan Programs Office, and pointing out that the company had incurred a $1.4bn loss in 2023.
Plug Power’s total deficit has grown to $5.26bn, according to its results for the past quarter.
The green hydrogen firm had in November 2023 issued a going concern warning — ie, that the company could fold within the following 12 months — although this was resolved in March after a deal with financial services firm B. Riley.
In a results call for the 2023 financial year, Marsh had said that Plug would not be dependent on receiving support from the DOE in 2024.
The company plans to leverage the loan guarantee to build up to six green hydrogen plants throughout the US, starting with a facility in Graham, Texas.
Today, Plug has enough capacity to produce up to 45 tonnes of liquid green hydrogen per day, which it supplies to customers of its fuel-cell forklifts.
Plug Power also manufactures proton exchange membrane electrolysers at its gigafactory in Rochester, which it uses in its own projects, and also manufactures fuel cells and hydrogen refuelling equipment.
Earlier this week, the firm inked a final sales and purchase agreement to supply 3GW of electrolysers to a project in Australia being developed by Allied Green Ammonia.
