Amazon Installs Electrolyzer Via Plug Power To Produce Green Hydrogen for Powering Vehicles in Its Fulfillment Center

Amazon Inc, will now produce its own low-carbon green hydrogen to fuel more than 225 hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklift trucks at the site, known as DEN8.

It was in August last year when Amazon inked a deal with Plug Power Inc (PLUG.O), to supply liquid green hydrogen. Now in a latest, on Wednesday, Plug Power has announced that it has now completed the installation and commissioning of an electrolyzer system at an Amazon fulfillment center in Aurora, Colorado.

The installed Electrolyzer is one-megawatt (MW) proton exchange membrane Electrolyzer which is the first for Amazon and is now producing low-carbon hydrogen a.k.a green hydrogen.

The Electrolyzer, installed at the Amazon fulfillment center, uses electricity and water to produce hydrogen and is able to support up to 400 hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklift trucks. The hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer will be compressed on site and stored in a gaseous hydrogen storage tank for use by the forklift trucks.

Notably, Plug Power has collaborated with Amazon to deploy more than 17,000 fuel cells to replace batteries in forklift vehicles in more than 80 fulfillment centers in North America. However, for most of these locations, hydrogen to power the forklifts is produced elsewhere, liquified, and delivered by trucks to an on-site storage and dispensing system.

Now, with the electrolyzer installed in Amazon's own facility the e-commerce giant will now be producing it's own low-carbon hydrogen.

For this project, Plug Power Inc provided design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance services for the 1MW PEM electrolyzer and hydrogen storage —compatible with the existing refueling infrastructure and fuel cells already in use at the site. This is the first electrolyzer system installed and in use at an Amazon site.