ITM Power Shares Ride Two Waves: a Scottish Hydrogen Deal and Geopolitical Optimism

ITM Power stock gains 6% to €1.57 after announcing a strategic partnership with Protium Green Solutions for UK hydrogen plants, while speculation of a US-Iran peace deal adds further momentum.

A flurry of activity has lifted ITM Power’s stock in recent sessions, with two distinct catalysts converging to reignite investor interest. The clean-energy outfit saw its shares advance nearly 6% to €1.57 after disclosing a strategic partnership with Protium Green Solutions, adding to a bounce that began on Monday when the stock rose 2.9% to €1.52 on speculation of a diplomatic breakthrough between the US and Iran.

Under the new alliance, the two companies will jointly develop and operate industrial green hydrogen plants across the UK, with the Cromarty project in Scotland serving as the initial anchor. The facility is designed to house a 15 MW electrolyser capable of churning out roughly seven tonnes of green hydrogen per day. It has already secured government backing from the first UK hydrogen allocation round, and ITM Power has pencilled in a final investment decision for December 2026.

The division of labour is straightforward: Protium will handle power procurement, permits and hydrogen distribution, while ITM Power supplies the electrolysers — either through direct sales or via its Hydropulse subsidiary, which offers containerised units. For ITM, the deal aligns with a broader push to diversify away from flagship mega-projects and instead build a wider pipeline of recurring revenue through alliances with developers, industrial groups and infrastructure operators.

Meanwhile, the geopolitical backdrop has added another layer of support. Market chatter points to a possible US-Iran peace accord as early as 19 June, a scenario that has weighed on oil prices and prompted investors to re-evaluate the near-term outlook for the energy transition. A lower crude price can temper the short-term urgency for green hydrogen, but it has also stoked buying in clean-energy stocks as traders bet on long-term policy momentum.

Beyond the headlines, the industry’s infrastructure build-out continues. India’s Power Grid Corporation is planning a large-scale transmission network for the country’s hydrogen facilities, and the European Commission kicked off its biomethane mechanism on 18 June, a programme that aims to scale the European market and provide regulatory certainty for hydrogen companies.

On the operational front, ITM Power is in its strongest position in years. The company recently reported its best-ever first-half revenue and carries an order book of £152 million, with more than 70% of that backlog deemed profitable. The shares have surged more than 116% since the start of the year, building on a 110% rally seen just days earlier. Yet the stock still trades roughly 39% below its 52-week high of €2.58 reached in late May, and it has shed about 16% over the past month — though that decline has contracted to 14% over the trailing 30 sessions as the partnership news provided a lift.

The test now is whether the Protium deal can reverse the downward drift of recent weeks. Much depends on how quickly the project pipeline converts into firm orders, with the Cromarty investment decision in December 2026 marking the next visible milestone. For now, the shares are catching a bid from two very different forces — one grounded in a concrete commercial pact, the other in speculative geopolitics.