Ballard announces $40 million in DoE grants to support build-out of integrated fuel cell production plant in Texas
In Canada, Ballard Power Systems announced it has received notification from the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office within the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) that Ballard’s applications for two grants totaling $40 million under the Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis, Manufacturing, and Recycling Program have been selected and recommended for negotiation of financial awards. The grants will support Ballard’s construction and build-out of an integrated fuel cell production Gigafactory based in Rockwall, Texas. Ballard plans for the new facility, dubbed Ballard Rockwall Giga 1, to be located on a parcel of 22 acres of industrial land within the Rockwall Technology Park in Rockwall, Texas. In Phase I, Ballard plans to invest approximately $160 million (net of the $40 million in expected DoE grants) from 2024 through the end of 2027 to build and commission a new manufacturing facility with annual production capacity of 8 million membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), 8 million bipolar plates, 20,000 fuel cell stacks, and up to 20,000 fuel cell engines per year, or the equivalent of 3 gigawatts of fuel cells. The $40 million in total DoE grants comprise a $30 million grant relating to advanced proton exchange membrane (PEM) MEAs and automated stack assembly, with the additional $10 million grant relating to a next-generation flexible graphite bipolar plate manufacturing line.
