ITM Power, the AIM listed clean fuel specialist, has reached practical completion at its first Gigafactory at Bessemer Park in Sheffield.
According to a company update, the handover of the completed building from contractors suffered “only a minor delay” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The completed fit out of the 1GW facility included an expansion of the existing offices, enlargement of the stack manufacturing and production areas and a dedicated ATEX rated space for factory acceptance testing of products, all coupled with the necessary 5MW power supply on site.
The Gigafactory also houses the 24-hour remote and technical monitoring centre that will support ITM Power’s after-sales service proposition, the Marketing centre, Technology centre and component stores.
The site, just off J34 of the M1 in Sheffield will welcome visitors in the near future, with the creation of a conferencing facility, as well as a Hydrogen Academy to support the training of apprentices, local engineers and customers, together with facilities for site visits by customers, shareholders, investors and other stakeholders.
CEO Graham Cooley said: “We have made solid progress over the last few months in operations as we gear up for the step change in manufacturing volumes enabled by our move into the world’s largest electrolyser production facility.
“Designing the factory and the manufacturing processes, followed by the fit out, has been a two and half year journey, which has produced a blueprint for additional Gigafactories when justified by order volumes. We are pleased and proud to be in our new home.”
The factory delivers a blueprint for a high capacity, semi-automated PEM electrolyser manufacturing facility, which can be readily replicated, enabling a local facility to be planned and rapidly deployed in response to large order volumes.
