Plug Power’s (PLUG) stock is proving to be one of the most actively traded among retail investors, having just posted gains for nine straight sessions without anyone really understanding what was driving the rally.
Despite not reporting any new updates and without a Q3 earnings report scheduled until November, shares of PLUG surged more than 50% over the past month.
And while the nine straight sessions of gains did not reach a 10th, Plug’s stock soared 25.8% again on Wednesday. Except this time there was a reason for the rally.
The company announced that it had delivered its first 10-megawatt (MW) GenEco electrolyzer array to Galp, which is the leading integrated energy company in Portugal.
Plug called it the largest global project that it has ever undertaken. The electrolyzer array will be used at Galp’s Sines Refinery, which is home to Europe’s largest proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen electrolyzer project.
The company noted that this will be the first of 10 similar arrays with Hydrogen Processing Units (HPUs) that will be delivered by early 2026.
The project calls for Plug to deploy a total electrolyzer capacity of 100MW by the first half of next year.
With this deployment, Plug will replace 20% of the grey hydrogen being used at the Sines Refinery with 15,000 tons of renewable hydrogen per year. This is expected to reduce the refinery’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 110,000 tons per year.
“Plug is building the next generation of industrial energy solutions, and our collaboration with Galp shows that large-scale hydrogen is ready today,” Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug, said in a statement. “This system will be a model for what’s possible across Europe’s refining sector and the broader energy industry.”
Galp began building its 100MW green hydrogen electrolysis unit in 2023 – and this first 100MW “will have started the decarbonization of our Sines refinery,” Ronald Doesburg, Galp’s EVP in charge of the Industrial business unit, noted in a statement.
“It’s a decisive first step for Galp, but also for the industry,” he said.
Plug calls Europe one of its “top strategic markets” and said that it is advancing multi-gigawatt electrolyzer deployments in Spain, the UK and other countries, “supported by a $2 billion global opportunity funnel.”
The company added that the deployment of more than 230MW of GenEco programs across Europe, Australia and North America accounted for $45 million-plus of its overall revenue in Q2.
Oppenheimer analysts, led by Colin Rusch, last week reiterated a Perform rating for Plug, without giving a price target for its shares. He said that a visit to Plug’s facility in Georgia showed operational improvement over last year.
“PLUG appears to be executing well on critical initiatives including improved margin structure, returning to revenue growth, optimizing its balance sheet, and maturing technology process to support scaling of the hydrogen economy,” Rusch wrote.
He anticipates that Plug’s Q3 results could “prove the first meaningful step in the platform’s recovery, supporting increased institutional interest.”
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