ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (hereinafter “MOU”) with Nel ASA (headquartered in Oslo, Norway; Jon André Løkke, Chief Executive Officer; hereinafter “Nel”), to create a strategic partnership in the hydrogen industry.

Nel is the world’s largest manufacturer of electrolysers, which are essential for green hydrogen production, in terms of production capacity, size of systems, number of systems delivered and revenues. Nel has a track record of delivering the largest electrolyser systems in the world, and was the first electrolyser OEM to announce a 20MW purchase order in 2021. Nel is unique in that it can provide both the Alkaline and Proton Exchange Membrane (hereinafter “PEM”) type, which are the only proven commercial technologies of water electrolysis available today. Nel’s alkaline electrolyser manufacturing facility in Norway is the largest automated production facility of its kind in the world today, with 500MW/year capacity currently and the potential to scale to 2GW/year. In addition, Nel has PEM production capacity in Connecticut, USA, of around 50MW/year.

Under this MOU, Nel and ITOCHU will jointly explore hydrogen business opportunities, develop tangible projects and, as a future goal, aim to expand the hydrogen business worldwide by establishing a production, transportation and distribution hydrogen value chain together with potential partners in each area of the value chain. Nel and ITOCHU will promote this initiative for the commercial success utilizing Nel’s nearly 100 years of experience in the hydrogen industry and ITOCHU’s international network, based on their shared belief that hydrogen is crucial for decarbonizing industry. In addition, the parties agreed to evaluate and explore each project and business opportunity together with Osaka Gas Co., Ltd., (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Osaka; Masataka Fujiwara, President), a leading Japanese utility with experience in gas handling and hydrogen technology.

ITOCHU has set “Enhance our contribution to and engagement with the SDGs” as one of the Basic Policies in its medium-term management plan. Under this policy, ITOCHU aims to contribute to a decarbonized society through this first MOU with a hydrogen production related system supplier and to create synergies with ITOCHU’s existing decarbonization business, such as hydrogen and ammonia.

Nel is a global, dedicated hydrogen company headquartered in Norway, delivering optimal solutions to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen from renewable energy. Nel serves industries, energy, and gas companies with leading hydrogen technology. Nel’s history in the development and continuous improvement of hydrogen technologies can be traced back to 1927. Today, its solutions cover the entire value chain: from hydrogen production technologies such as electrolysers to hydrogen fueling stations, enabling industries to transition to green hydrogen, and providing fuel cell electric vehicles with the same fast fueling and long range as fossil-fueled vehicles – without the emissions.