McPhy Energy is a French company founded in January 2008 with the mission to industrialise and commercialise a new technology for the solid storage of hydrogen in the form of magnesium hydride. The company says it has developed an alternative solution for the on-site production of hydrogen for the industry sector, and for the renewable energy sector a concrete solution to solve the issue of energy storage.

Following a €1.6m first round of financing in January 2009 from Emertec and Areva, the firm established a production line and created a reservoir of magnesium hydride that was delivered to CEA-Liten in March 2010 for testing on an industrial scale. The company is now developing a second large-capacity reservoir that will become operational during the second half of 2010.

According to the company, the second round of funds will allow the start-up to scale quickly, from both an industrial and commercial development point of view, by reinforcing its commercial and technical team and investing in additional production equipment. Already present in Spain and in Italy, the company also plans to open offices in Germany, Northern Europe, the Middle East and Japan.

In April, McPhy Energy signed a research contract with the French Laboratory of Innovation for New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials (CEA-Liten) to manufacture two full size magnesium hydride storage prototypes and to test them at industrial scale.

During the test campaign, they will be coupled to an electrolyzer and a fuel cell simulating a real-world renewable energy storage application.