A Sunderland manufacturer is set to treble in size on the back of “significant” multimillion-dollar investment from its American owners.
Haskel Hydrogen Systems, which makes and distributes high-pressure pumps, valves and package solutions for a raft of industries, has seen demand for its hydrogen fuelling stations soar.
To meet global demand, Haskel – winner of the manufacturing award at last week’s North East Business Awards – has announced significant investment from its parent company, New York Stock Exchange listed Ingersoll Rand Inc, to grow the business and fuel international expansion.
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The investment will also help to create new jobs at its Sunderland site, which already employs more than 100 people.
Over the next 18 months, Haskel will use the investment to strengthen its business in several key areas, and work is already under way to scale up its global hydrogen refuelling centre for excellence in Sunderland, with aims to treble the capacity of the site by the end of next year.
The hydrogen refuelling specialist will also boost capacity by establishing a second manufacturing facility in Rouen, in northern France, which is set to become operational in 2022 and scale up to double manufacturing capacity as part of a wider global expansion programme.
Having secured significant orders around the world and with a record pipeline of projects, Haskel says the investment represents strong backing from its owners.
The company will also use part of the investment to develop larger compression systems, capable of driving the next generation of refuelling systems for larger applications or loads, as part of a joint new product development project with Gardner Denver, which is also part of the Ingersoll Rand Group.
Haskel’s global managing director, Stephen Learney, said: “As the world takes action to reduce emissions and address climate change, hydrogen has an increasingly important role to play in the energy transition.
“We are pleased to announce this investment from Ingersoll Rand, which demonstrates a commitment to further strengthen the development of our hydrogen refuelling business, infrastructure, equipment and people to meet increasing global market demand.
“Building on the success of our range of modular refuelling stations, by collaborating with other Ingersoll Rand businesses and combining our compression expertise we are able to continue to invest in developing our product offering and evolve to meet the needs of the emerging hydrogen market.”
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