SunHydrogen Announces Approval of $3.1 Million in Funding for Project NanoPEC, a Scale-Up Cooperation with Partners at the Cutting Edge of German Industry and Science
SANTA BARBARA, CA – June 20, 2023 – SunHydrogen, Inc. (OTC: HYSR), the developer of a breakthrough technology to produce renewable hydrogen using sunlight and water, today announced the approval of Project NanoPEC, a 3-year initiative that will bring the Company together with six partners at the cutting edge of industry and science in Germany to rapidly move SunHydrogen’s technology toward commercialization.
Coordinated by the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics, the objective of Project NanoPEC is to bring SunHydrogen’s patented technology to a demonstration plant scale and develop manufacturing technology to support automated production on a 1000-unit scale, among other key goals.
“We are thrilled to announce the approval of Project NanoPEC and we believe this cooperation will be highly complementary to our team’s ongoing work to bring our technology to commercialization,” said SunHydrogen’s CEO Tim Young. “While our internal goals are unchanging and we remain well-capitalized to meet the milestones we have set, we believe working with some of the most innovative leaders in German industry and science can accelerate our progress and allow us to view challenges from all angles.”
“I first met with Fraunhofer Group Manager Dr. Christian Hagendorf and Project Manager Dr. David Adner at their Halle (Saale) laboratory in September 2021 after being introduced by our partner, Schmid Group,” Mr. Young continued. “We are extremely grateful to the teams at Fraunhofer and Schmid for pursuing this funding and bringing together an incredible group of project partners to aid in the process.”
Project NanoPEC is supported with approximately $3.1 million in funding by the Federal Government of Germany’s 7th Energy Research Program. In 2021, the 7th Energy Research Program issued a funding announcement for innovators in the renewable energy space whose technologies can support Germany’s larger goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045.
Per the grant’s criteria, Project NanoPEC’s operations will be carried out in Germany. In addition to Fraunhofer and Schmid, the full list of project partners includes WAVELABS Solar Metrology Systems GmbH; ECH Elektrochemie Halle GmbH; Zahner-Elektrik; and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. SunHydrogen’s Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Syed Mubeen will serve as the team representative for the Company.
Each project partner brings highly advanced expertise in areas including but not limited to device testing and measurement; design; manufacturing technology; solar simulation; electrochemical analytics; photoelectrode scale-up; and catalyst materials.
Through phased work, Project NanoPEC will look to:
Scale SunHydrogen’s existing manufacturing process to demonstration plant size.
Develop manufacturing technology to support automated production on a 1000-unit scale.
Create and validate a SunHydrogen panel with at least 12 hydrogen generators, where each generator contains roughly 100cm² of active area.
The above metrics are significantly larger than those of SunHydrogen’s most recent prototype, which featured 16 hydrogen generators at a scale of 25cm² of active area each.
In the first 12-month work phase, SunHydrogen will continue the ongoing efforts at its Iowa headquarters, and with its existing industrial and university partners, to develop the necessary laboratory processes to fabricate its nanoparticle technology at larger scales. Also during this phase, the Company will develop optimized laboratory specifications as a basis for industrial implementation, and will further improve performance of its catalysts and protective coatings.
“Our team is committed to pursuing the most efficient path forward to scale our technology, and we are extremely excited to be working with some of the brightest innovators in the industry to accelerate our goal of bringing renewable hydrogen to the world,” Mr. Young concluded.