Mitsubishi Heavy, Chevron plan to start green hydrogen production in the US by 2025

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Chevron have announced plans to begin commercial production of green hydrogen in Utah by mid-2025. Their joint venture, ACES Delta, will use renewable energy to produce 100 tons of hydrogen per day, a significant step toward sustainable energy production.

ACES Delta to produce 100 tons of hydrogen per day at Utah’s largest renewable energy storage facility

ACES Delta, a joint venture between the two corporations, will produce and store gas at facilities in Utah. GIC, Singapore’s national wealth fund and a major Canadian pension fund are other investors, with Chevron the largest shareholder.

ACES will help Intermountain Power Agency (IPA), the local electricity provider, acquire surplus solar and wind energy from other regions of the country and distribute it to ACES. By using this surplus energy to generate hydrogen from water, ACES can produce 100 tons of hydrogen per day and receive processing and storage fees from IPA.

Salt caverns, a type of underground formation that is also used to store natural gas and oil, will be used to store hydrogen. This is because the underground formation is resistant to gas and liquid leaks. IPA will extract hydrogen from natural gas for combustion in power plants.

In a recent report by Nikkei Asia, the utility plans to phase out its coal-fired power plants and build an 840-megawatt gas-fired facility that is set to begin commercial operations next year. The goal is to convert the new plant entirely to hydrogen by 2045, and it will initially run on a mix of 70% natural gas and 30% hydrogen.

The salt caves can store enough hydrogen to produce 300 gigawatt-hours of electricity, meeting the annual energy needs of 28,000 U.S. households. It is expected to be the world’s largest renewable hydrogen storage facility.

If successful, the site would be the world’s first large-scale initiative for green hydrogen production, storage and power generation. Total expenditure is expected to exceed billions of dollars.

Michael Ducker, president of MHI Hydrogen Infrastructure, a US company, said the company is “looking at launching this year.”

Mitsubishi Heavy expands hydrogen capacity with US project backed by $500 million loan guarantee

Mitsubishi Heavy developed and manufactured the gas turbine for the power plant and will be responsible for maintaining and inspecting the equipment for 20 years. Mitsubishi Heavy also has a stake in a Norwegian company that manufactures an electrolyzer unit that will be used to produce hydrogen.

Gas turbines are one of Mitsubishi Heavy’s strengths. The company is expanding into hydrogen energy, which it believes has more promising prospects. As the United States seeks to move away from fossil-fuel-fired power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Mitsubishi Heavy intends to use its involvement in the Utah project as an opportunity to gain expertise.

The facility can serve as a conduit for solar energy that would otherwise go to waste. When the grid can’t accommodate the excess energy generated by solar farms in the western United States, they are often taken offline.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has guaranteed a $500 million loan for a project in Utah to make the United States a major player in the hydrogen industry.

Ducker responded to a question about potential partners in other hydrogen initiatives: “The basic approach we’re taking is to work with different strategic companies that are operating in some of these nodes.”