Elcogen plc secures €45m strategic investment from HD Hyundai

Arrowpoint Advisory’s Energy Transition and Infrastructure team has advised Elcogen plc, the European manufacturer of technology that enables delivery of efficient, affordable green hydrogen and emission-free electricity, on signing a €45m strategic investment from Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd. (“KSOE”), a company incorporated in the Republic of Korea and a member of HD Hyundai Group (“HD Hyundai”).

HD Hyundai’s investment follows an extensive period of testing the full range of technology available in the market, following which an R&D collaboration agreement was signed with Elcogen in January 2023, which was focused on further testing of Elcogen’s technology and development of systems. HD Hyundai chose Elcogen’s solid oxide fuel cell (“SOFC”) and solid oxide electrolyser cell (“SOEC”) technology because:

• of its flexibility to produce electrical energy from a variety of fuels such as hydrogen, natural gas, ammonia, methanol, and biofuel;
• its suitability for ship engines and cogeneration as it is highly energy efficient and can use waste heat generated from high-temperature operation (600~1000℃); and
• it is considered the most advanced among all fuel cells developed to date.

This investment will be used to expand Elcogen’s manufacturing capacity as it continues to build the Company’s new factory facility in Tallinn, Estonia, with a manufacturing capacity of up to 360MW to meet increasing demand for its products.

Following this investment, HD Hyundai and Elcogen intend to further strengthen their collaboration with a focus on marine propulsion systems and stationary power generation based on Elcogen’s proprietary SOFC and green hydrogen production based Elcogen’s SOEC technology, as well as  intending to work together to manufacture systems in South Korea.

This investment forms part of a larger investment by KSOE, demonstrating its commitment to delivering its Ocean Transformation strategy. As part of HD Hyundai’s progress towards marine propulsion, its SOFC systems will initially target providing auxiliary power on-board vessels before scaling up to provide propulsion.

Chris Nash, Chairman of Elcogen, said: “We are delighted to welcome HD Hyundai as a close working partner and now as a shareholder.  I believe this is a vote of confidence in our technology from a world leader in industrial innovation and shipbuilding.  We look forward to building on this relationship as we continue working together.”

Enn Õunpuu, CEO of Elcogen added: “There is a huge amount of pressure for heavy industries to decarbonise and meet net zero targets, not least maritime transport. We are delighted that HD Hyundai has built upon our strategic partnership to invest directly into Elcogen, recognising the key role our proprietary Solid Oxide technology will have in leading the world to net zero, providing a clear and external validation of Elcogen.”

Kisun Chung, CEO of HD Hyundai/HD KSOE commented: “We expect this investment, and the strategic collaboration HD Hyundai and Elcogen will build together, will lay the cornerstone for realising the sustainable future energy ecosystem HD Hyundai envisions, which includes developing next generation clean energy technologies and expanding the value chain capabilities of future core energy sources, including hydrogen.” 

Ian Brown, Managing Director at Arrowpoint Advisory, concluded: “We are delighted to have played a part in bringing together this investment and collaboration, particularly so as it will play a core role in KSOE’s mission of achieving zero emission shipping. We are excited to see the collaboration develop as we continue to work with Elcogen.”

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