Following a yearlong application and decision process, the U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that seven geographic hubs were awarded combined grant funding of up to $7 billion to encourage green hydrogen development: the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub, the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, the California Hydrogen Hub, the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub, the Heartland Hydrogen Hub, the Midwest Hydrogen Hub and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub.
According to the Department of Energy, the selected hubs represent a diversity of hydrogen sources, which will enhance energy security and affordability, decrease emissions and expand the range of existing infrastructure for incorporation into the hydrogen network. The agency expects the grants to also leverage about $43 billion in private investment and reduce emissions by 25 million metric tons per year.
Within the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, Hope Gas plans to install residential fuel cells that run on hydrogen and natural gas from the utility’s pipelines. Natural gas producer EQT will create hydrogen from natural gas and sequester the resulting carbon.
Jeffrey Nehr, senior vice president of gas supply and development at Hope Gas, noted that a hydrogen blend in fuel cells will substantially reduce carbon emissions. He added that with strong possibilities for new homes, “combined heat and power is an even bigger game-changer, because you jump efficiencies up to about 80%.”
In the Heartland Hydrogen Hub, Xcel Energy is planning multiple clean hydrogen projects, according to the utility. The utility’s electric side “would utilize our wind, solar and nuclear resources to produce clean hydrogen,” said Xcel Energy spokesperson Theo Keith. That hydrogen would then be blended into existing natural gas distribution systems, as well as power generation and other agricultural and industrial applications.
In the Pacific Northwest, Puget Sound Energy plans to use the hub funding for a hydrogen-fueled peak generating facility to complement intermittent resources such as wind and solar in its electric portfolio. PSE’s natural gas side has also been conducting studies “to ensure that our gas distribution system and customer appliances are prepared to accept blended gas,” according to a PSE spokesperson. “This is an important step forward in meeting our region’s ambitious clean energy goals, and we look forward to developing new partnerships and opportunities to promote the adoption of clean hydrogen.”
Hubs were selected for their technical merit and impact, financial and market viability, workplan, management team and project partners, and community benefits plan. Award negotiations will take place over the next several months, followed by detailed project planning and development, which could take up to three years before construction begins.
In the meantime, many utilities across the nation are already leveraging hydrogen as part of their carbon-reduction planning. In recent news, NiSource became the first in the United States to use a blending skid in a controlled setting to mix hydrogen and natural gas at a range of percentages. The trial—the first step of a multiphase hydrogen blending project—evaluates hydrogen’s effect on natural gas, equipment and piping, while calculating net reduction in carbon emissions and impacts, including on natural gas appliances in a model home.
In Oregon, NW Natural is piloting turquoise (low-carbon) hydrogen technology. The company is blending hydrogen at its Sherwood campus, where 20% of that facility’s gas use soon will be composed of hydrogen. NW Natural envisions first supplying clean hydrogen produced on-site to its large industrial customers and ultimately blending it systemwide.