Galp bets on green hydrogen with $5 million in funding

The fuel retail brand will support US company Verdagy to accelerate the launch of its electrolyzer module.

Galp has announced an investment of €4.56 million in Verdagy, a U.S. company focused on developing a scalable type of electrolysis technology for industrial applications. This development involves a lower initial investment and is less dependent on critical raw materials than other comparable technologies.

The retail brand's investment in the tech company comes as part of a financing round of which the California-based company raised a total of $73 million from strategic investors led by Temasek and Shell Ventures.

The capital will be used to accelerate the launch and commercialization of its 20 MW eDynamic electrolyzer module, the critical centerpiece for the development of 200 MW and higher systems.

"We believe the electrolysis technology developed by Verdagy has the potential to become a leader in the coming years and help Galp achieve its goals in green hydrogen production. This partnership reinforces our commitment to low-carbon business areas, contributing to the reduction of emissions not only from our activities, but also from those of our customers," says Georgios Papadimitriou, Executive Board Member for Renewables, New Business and Innovation at Galp.

The first phase of Galp’s strategy to boost the production of green hydrogen includes replacing the over 70 KTPA consumed at the Sines refinery, which is extracted from natural gas molecules, with electrolysis-produced hydrogen powered by renewable electricity. In parallel, the company is also studying the production of e-fuels, methanol and ammonia and is evaluating the use of hydrogen as a fuel for mobility.