The Stargate Hydrogen story – from EU funding to full value chain delivery

Green hydrogen as an energy carrier sits at the heart of the global energy transition today.

Not every company that has moved on the opportunity in the past five years has delivered on their ambitions, which is always the case in new markets, but there are always breakthroughs to celebrate, and companies genuinely moving the dial on what’s possible.

One tangible success story is Stargate Hydrogen in Estonia, which since 2021 has been busy developing an advanced alkaline electrolyser that has a real claim to be revolutionary in reinventing what’s possible, with more improvements in the pipeline.

The step-change the Stargate Hydrogen electrolyser stack delivers lies in the catalysts the technology deploys. It uses ceramic-based materials rather than scarce and costly precious metals, such as iridium or ruthenium, which other electrolysers need.

It’s an innovation that has several clear benefits, including lower material costs and energy consumption, thereby making green hydrogen that much more viable as it scales. It also extends the lifespan of the equipment in use, cutting maintenance and downtime to further improve the economics.

Stargate Hydrogen is progressing at speed right now. In June it inaugurated a new factory, with the opening attended by Kristen Michal, the Prime Minister of Estonia, and Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe.

The facility can deliver 140MW of alkaline electrolysers every year in its first phase, rising to more than 1GW a year with some small future investments. Deliveries from the new factory have already started to the existing customers of the company in the European, Middle Eastern, Turkish and Indian markets.

Support for the build has come from Estonia and from the EU, with the factory being designated an Important Project of European Interest – and therefore eligible for EU and member state funding.

“Facilities like this, and the material innovation by Stargate, are exactly what we need to build the hydrogen economy in Europe,” said Chatzimarkakis at the formal opening.

And even Stargate’s approach to the build is novel and efficient, being modular in its approach so as to scale up only as production need is confirmed.

Fast pace and strong backing

With lots happening, let’s remind ourselves how Stargate Hydrogen got here.

The company was set up by Marko Virkebau and Dr Rainer Küngas and progress in the four years since has been notably swift, buoyed by financial backing and support from key European industry players, including the government of Estonia applying the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme.

Other backers include strategic customers from the renewable energy and utility sectors, such as Giga and UG Investments (UGI), as well as the Estonian investment fund SmartCap. Between these companies and the IPCEI funding, Stargate Hydrogen has raised more than €50m, spread across the original seed investment and a subsequent Series A funding round. But more than that the backers have been critical in helping to drive an ambitious pilot project that’s already strikingly well-advanced and poised to deliver, demonstrating the real-world viability of the technology in action, ahead of full commercial scale.

Utilitas pilot in Tallinn

Stargate Hydrogen investor UGI is also the parent company of Utilitas, which is a leading utility with a growing renewable energy proposition in the Baltic region, with a focus on Estonia.

A pilot deployment of Stargate Hydrogen’s 1MW Gateway200 electrolyser at the Väo energy complex of Utilitas in Tallinn is about to go live. It will make nearly half a tonne of green hydrogen a day to supply Estonia’s first fast-fill hydrogen refuelling stations, operated by the energy group Alexela on behalf of Utilitas. The project is the first full value chain demo project in the Baltic states.

The other partner in the project is the Estonia mobility company Bolt, with services spanning ride-hailing, micromobility and food deliveries. Once the system is up and running, Bolt will power a fleet of 30 hydrogen-fuelled taxis from the refuelling station. In this way the pilot will deliver a practical demonstration of hydrogen technology in urban transportation – as well as showcasing Stargate Hydrogen’s ability to deliver turnkey hydrogen production systems in short order and to exacting standards. The project, like any in the EU, has a CE conformity mark proving it meets all regional protections and standards.

Stargate Hydrogen leads on EU science push

The confidence of investors in Stargate Hydrogen is borne of the many technology proof points that are in the company’s backstory.

In January 2024 this credibility and potential was further illustrated by Stargate Hydrogen’s involvement in an EU-backed €2.5m science project with a consortium of world-class partners involved.

The grant-funded project, called ENDURE, is a three-year research and innovation push focused around further developing the clear potential of alkaline electrolysers, with Stargate Hydrogen to the fore.

The aim is to design and develop an innovative electrolyser stack design with improved components. In particular, there is a focus on the potential for higher durability tech, thanks to the decreased degradation rate of alkaline electrolysis cells and stacks via electrode improvements.

The objective of ENDURE, which closely ties to Stargate Hydrogen’s, is to improve the current density and stability of electrolysers, lifting the performance and durability of alkaline electrolysers to a new level.

The project technical coordinator is Stargate Hydrogen’s CTO Dr Rainer Küngas, who set the scene at the kick-off of the project in early 2024.

“Alkaline electrolyser technology has been in industrial use for decades, and [so] the common misconception is that alkaline systems have reached a performance plateau. The ENDURE project is all about demonstrating that alkaline electrolysers still have a lot of potential left, both in terms of performance as well as durability,” he said.

Eighteen months in, ENDURE is delivering as planned and connects top-level research groups and commercial players across Europe, including experts in Estonia, Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Sweden. It boasts an enviable balance of academic and industrial players, between them covering different links in the electrolyser value chain, with Stargate Hydrogen leading on cell and stack development.

And Stargate Hydrogen is part of other consortiums, too. These include a nanoparticles project for green hydrogen called EXSOTHyC and Horizon Europe, which is a demonstration of the full green hydrogen value chain in Europe. Another notable partnership project it plays a part in is ELECTROLIFE, which aims to enhance knowledge on how electrolysers producing green hydrogen degrade over time.

2025 World Hydrogen Summit

The fruits of Stargate Hydrogen’s progress on all fronts were in evidence in April year, with the Stargate Hydrogen’s team running a booth at the 2025 World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam.

Stargate Hydrogen caused a stir on the floor by setting up Stellar Edge, its 0.5MW electrolyser stack, in the company booth. It was not a scale model or mock-up but the real deal: a four-tonne piece of hardware that’s ready to produce hydrogen.

To bring home what’s happening, today Stargate Hydrogen already has signed agreements with integrators in several European countries, plus Turkey and India, for the manufacturing of hydrogen production systems.

Aniket Choudhari, Stargate Hydrogen’s Senior Business Development Manager, said the time in Rotterdam was exciting and illustrated the potential from here.

“It was far more than just another industry event. Great conversations, smart questions, and a lot of curiosity about how we’re scaling up green hydrogen at Stargate Hydrogen. From pricing chats to tech deep-dives, it was full of real talk and real momentum. For us, it was a solid opportunity to show what we’re building – and why it matters. ”

Stargate Hydrogen and its customers

What does Stargate Hydrogen’s ideal customer look like?

According to Aniket Choudhari, the company stacks are ideal for engineering companies that have secured grants for hydrogen production projects. More specifically, companies with long experience in complex oil and gas projects are an especially good fit.

With its turnkey containerised systems, the best market fit is for applications in industries that are challenging to decarbonise and would benefit from substantial, cost-effective green hydrogen.

Steelmaking, through green steel production, is one use case, as are the chemical and fertiliser industries that are looking to switch to green hydrogen from carbon-intensive grey.

Refineries and synthetic fuel producers are also targets, while industries that need high-temperature heat, like ceramics, glass, and aluminium manufacturing, could also benefit.