FFI's parent company told the market this morning that the two organisations will build a 2-gigawatt factory to produce large-scale proton exchange membrane electrolysers with the ability to expand into fuel cell systems and other hydrogen-related refuelling and storage infrastructure in the future.
Plug Power will supply the electrolyser and fuel cell technology and FFI will contribute the advanced manufacturing capabilities and be the primary customer of the products manufactured by the joint venture as it looks to decarbonise FMG's mining operations.
"We need solar panels, wind towers, and electrolysers in such scale that we need to produce them where we use them - including Australia," FFI CEO Julie Shuttleworth said.
"We have enough solar and wind in Australia to power many countries of the world.
"Working together with plug power we can create this future."
Under the agreement, FFI will also purchase 250MW of Plug Power's electrolyser solutions, used to create hydrogen and oxygen from water, for its Australian projects. Plug Power will supply these from its Gigafactory in Rochester, New York and will be delivered in the second half of next year.
"Australia and New Zealand will be a big market opportunity for our green hydrogen ecosystem for electrolysers, fuel cells and green hydrogen," Plug Power president and CEO Andy Marsh said.
"This year we will do megawatts of deployment in these markets, and gigawatts in the coming years."
Both companies will fund the joint venture equally and will have equal representation on the board of the joint venture.
FFI founder Andrew Forrest unveiled plans for the 2GW electrolyser factory in Gladstone, Queensland earlier this week, touring the facility's future site alongside state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The announcement prompted questions in Western Australia, where FFI's parent company iron ore giant Fortescue Mining Group and its research and development activities are based, about why the state was not selected for a major FFI development.
The state government revealed WA lost out because it could not find a viable site for the facility.
Speaking at a virtual edition of The National Press Club yesterday, Forrest said "until Western Australia works out how to give people who want to develop large green hydrogen projects some security to get on and do it, we're just going to keep on dithering".
He added that the McGowan government's commitment to carbon neutrality was "just words".
"If you want to develop the hundreds of thousands of jobs in Western Australia, you have to get past the words, past the rhetoric, past the promises and allow the project to be developed by granting tenure so that people can crack on."
Despite this, he praised the state's hydrogen minister Alannah MacTiernan and state development minister Roger Cook, for being "lone voices" on the state's hydrogen development.
Liberal leader and shadow hydrogen minister David Honey said Forrest's comments vindicated the opposition's view that the McGowan government was losing out on the international green hydrogen race.
"Western Australia needs to urgently diversify and invest in new industries such as hydrogen because our economy is too reliant on iron ore exports," he said.
"Green hydrogen is a massive economy opportunity for Western Australia with hydrogen exports potentially delivering thousands of high skilled valued added jobs over many decades."
Clean State director Olivia Chapman said Western Australia needed to commit to interim 2030 emissions reduction targets if it did not want to miss out on new energy investment opportunities.
"In recent weeks, we have seen substantial investments go to other Australian states which have clear pathways in place to decarbonise their economies," she said.
"The introduction of an interim 2030 emissions reduction target would send a strong message that WA is serious about climate action and achieving zero emissions by 2050."
MacTiernan's office could not be reached for comment.
