The green energy arm of Australia's third-largest iron ore producer Fortescue has opened an electrolyser manufacturing centre, one of the first globally to use an automated assembly line, in Australia's central Queensland state.
The 15,000m² advanced manufacturing facility in Gladstone city will have capacity to produce 2 GW/yr of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser stacks, said Fortescue Energy, formerly known as Fortescue Future Industries.
The factory is the first stage of Fortescue's planned Green Energy Manufacturing Centre on the 100-hectare (1km²) site, where it is planning to build a hydrogen system testing facility and its 8,000 t/yr PEM50 green hydrogen project.
Fortescue last week missed a key date to reach a final investment decision (FID) on its 385,000 t/yr Gibson Island green hydrogen project, also in Queensland state, triggering a termination right under the power purchase agreement it signed with domestic renewable energy firm Genex Power.
The green hydrogen developer last year said it was aiming for FIDs on five projects in 2023 but ultimately made only three investments, the largest of which is its 11,000 t/yr Phoenix hydrogen hub in the western US state of Arizona.
