Asahi Kasei wins financing for hydrogen production equipment project
Japanese chemicals and materials science group Asahi Kasei Corp (TYO:3407) has secured governmental support of up to JPY 11.4 billion (USD 72m/EUR 70m) to increase its manufacturing capacity for components used in the production of green hydrogen.
The company intends to build new plants for both cell frames and membranes for electrolysers, it said. The facilities will have a manufacturing capacity of at least 2 GW each and should be established at Asahi Kasei’s site in Kawasaki, Japan, by 2028.
The government support will cover a substantial part of the project’s total costs estimated at JPY 35 billion.
The expansion is expected to bring Asahi Kasei’s total annual capacity for cell frames and membranes to more than 3 GW.
With the project, Asahi Kasei aims to establish a stable domestic manufacturing supply chain for technologies that will help Japan reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
According to data cited by the company, the annual installed capacity of water electrolysers is expected to rise to 31 GW globally by 2030 as hydrogen is seen as a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels.
Asahi Kasei aims for a 20% share of the world’s major water electrolysis equipment markets, primarily in Europe, North America, and India, by around 2030, Masami Takenaka, lead executive officer of Asahi Kasei, noted in the statement.
(JPY 1 = USD 0.006/EUR 0.006)