Shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai Group has made a €45m ($47.7m) investment in technology company Elcogen, an Estonian maker of fuel cells and electrolysers that produce green hydrogen.

The deal, which is subject to approval by Elcogen shareholders, will see HD Hyundai’s Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) take an unspecified stake in the Tallinn-based company.

The investment comes on the back of a research and development agreement forged by the two companies in January to test Elcogen’s solid oxide technology.

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HD Hyundai, led by chief executive Kisun Chung, plans to deepen its collaboration with Elcogen with a focus on marine propulsion systems using the Estonian company’s solid oxide fuel cells and green hydrogen production using its solid-oxide electrolyser cells.

“We expect this investment, and the strategic collaboration HD Hyundai and Elcogen will build together, will lay the cornerstone for realising the sustainable future energy ecosystem HD Hyundai envisions, which includes developing next-generation clean energy technologies and expanding the value chain capabilities of future core energy sources, including hydrogen,” he said in a statement.

For its part, Elcogen plans to use the South Korean shipbuilder’s investment to expand its manufacturing capacity. The company is building a new factory in Tallinn, and Elcogen and KSOE plan to explore manufacturing in South Korea.

Solid oxide fuel cells are touted as more efficient than other forms of fuel cells, and the company’s electrolysers use similar technology to produce synthetic fuels from electricity.

“I believe this is a vote of confidence in our technology from a world leader in industrial innovation and shipbuilding,” said Chris Nash, chairman of Elcogen.

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