US selects hydrogen hubs

: Hydrogen
23/10/13

The US has named seven hydrogen hubs that will each be awarded a portion of $7bn to jump-start the country's hydrogen economy.

The hubs will produce over 3mn t/yr of clean hydrogen combined, equivalent to 30pc of the US' 10mn t/yr target for 2030, the White House said. They are expected to trigger an estimated $43bn in private investment.

All of the hubs feature renewable power, and even those using natural gas with carbon capture and storage or utilisation (CCUS) will have renewable power components allowing them to shift between production methods depending on economics, White House officials said. Some of the hubs will use new clean energy assets and others will rely on electricity from the grid provided by existing sources.

US president Joe Biden will formally announce the awardees later today at Philadelphia port in Pennsylvania, a critical end user for the selected Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub (MAHH). The hub will repurpose existing infrastructure in the south of Pennsylvania and on the Delaware river and produce hydrogen from a variety of feedstocks (see table).

Pennsylvania is also involved in the selected Appalachian Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), which will supply hydrogen for local industry and transport. ARCH2 will leverage "low-cost natural gas" and opportunities for CO2 storage in the region.

In the west, the government selected California's Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) project, which includes Southern California Gas' "Angeles Link" hydrogen pipeline and spans the length of the state. The hub includes three ports that will be key for introducing hydrogen to the heavy-duty transport market via drayage.

The Heartland hub will produce hydrogen from low-cost wind power for fertilizer production and power generation, while the Midwest hub will produce hydrogen from nuclear power and focus on transport applications.

The Pacific Northwest hub in Washington, Oregon and Montana will produce hydrogen exclusively from renewable power and could help drive down electrolyser costs while supplying the fertilizer industry, the White House said.

The Gulf Coast hub centered in Houston is the largest in terms of hydrogen production from natural gas. It will demonstrate how scaling up can reduce hydrogen production costs, officials said.

Some state configurations are different from initial announcements made by the hub coalitions, suggesting shuffling took place between applications. The hub sponsors will now undergo negotiations with the US Department of Energy (DOE). Most federal funds will be provided in the construction phase, and will otherwise be allocated once hubs meet certain milestones in the design and development phases.

The government is separately planning a $1bn incentive package to stimulate demand from offtakers for output from the hubs, although the exact shape of this has yet to be decided.

By Emmeline Willey

Selected US hydrogen hubs
Name	States involved	Max funding	H2 production feedstock/pathway	Key offtake sectors	Other info

Mid-Atlantic	Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey	$750mn	Renewable and nuclear power; renewable natural gas from biomass	Port of Philadelphia and others	Will use established and innovative electrolyzers. Repurposes oil infrastructure.
Appalachian	West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania	$925mn	Natural gas with CCS	Industry, transport	"Ample access to low-cost gas"
California	California	$1.2bn	Renewable power and biomass	Public transport; heavy duty trucking; port operations	Pipeline spanning California; includes three ports
Gulf Coast (aka HyVelocity)	Texas	$1.2bn	Natural gas with CCS; renewable power	Not specified	Focus on large-scale projects to reduce costs
Heartland	Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota	$925mn	Renewable power (wind)	Fertilizer, power generation, cold climate space heating	Equity ownership for tribal communities and local farmers
Midwest	Illinois, Indiana, Michigan	$1bn	Renewable and nuclear power; natural gas with CCS	Heavy-duty transport, steel, glass, power generation, refining, SAF	"Key US industrial and transport corridor"
Pacific Northwest	Washington, Oregon, Montana	$1bn	Renewable power	Freight, fertilizer	Focus on driving down electrolyser costs; may connect to California
- US government

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