ITM Power plc (LON:ITM) shares jumped after the clean energy company announced plans for a hydrogen bus route in France and said it entered a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA).
Shares rose 16% to 36.25p in afternoon trading.
The company will help to launch the first emission free hydrogen bus route in France through a consortium with SMT-PPP, Engie and Van Hool.
The GNVERT -Van Hool consortium has signed a contract to deliver the eco-friendly bus route between the hospital and railway station in the southwestern French city of Pau within two years.
It will be operated by Pau transport companies SMTU-PPP and STAP from September 2019.
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European manufacturer Van Hool will design eight electric buses, which will not emit greenhouse gases or pollution, only water vapour.
Van Hool, which has more than 50 fuel cell electric vehicle hydrogen buses already in operation, is developing an 18-meter fuel cell bus model for the route.
In hydrogen buses, electricity is produced in real time on board the vehicle using innovative technology combining hydrogen and oxygen - a fuel cell.
It takes about 10 minutes to recharge the vehicles and the power will last a distance of 350km.
Engie, through its GNVERT subsidiary, will construct the hydrogen refuelling station for the buses.
ITM benefits from rapid growth in hydrogen bus market
The hydrogen will be produced on site by an ITM Power polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyser, powered by local renewable electricity.
"We are looking forward to supporting GNVERT, VanHool and the City of Pau in this important hydrogen bus project," said ITM Power’s chief executive Graham Cooley.
"The hydrogen bus market is growing rapidly and it is a great pleasure to be working with such an important group of leaders on this major step forward in France."
The announcement comes in the wake of news that France will end sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 as part of a plan to meet its targets under the Paris climate accord.
READ: ITM Power welcomes launch of UK government's Hydrogen for Transport Programme
ITM enters joint project with Shell
Separately, ITM announced a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSA) to install a 10 megawatt electrolyser to produce hydrogen at the Wesseling refinery site within the Rheinland Refinery Complex in Germany. It will be the largest unit of its kind in Germany and the world's largest PEM electrolyser.
"Decarbonising hydrogen production in the chemical and refining industries worldwide is potentially a very large market," said Cooley. "This pioneering project with Shell aims to demonstrate what can be achieved using our industrial scale electrolysers which can also use low cost renewable energy and help to balance electricity grids."
The project will delivered by Shell and consortium partners ITM Power SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy.
ITM said electrolysis, which uses low-cost renewable electricity, could be a key technology for a potential CO2 free hydrogen production in the Shell Rheinland Refinery.
Including the Rheinland Refinery, the company currently has £18.0mln of projects under contract and £19.9mln of contracts in the final stages of negotiation.