The loan is set to help the construction of the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in Delta, Utah, launched by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems and Magnum Development.
Set to produce and store hydrogen from renewable electricity in a series of underground salt-dome caverns, ACES boasts a 150GWh capacity, making it the largest of its kind in the world.
Read more: Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems joins Renewable Hydrogen Alliance
The ACES hub will aid the clean energy transition by supporting the Intermountain Power Project, which sets its sights on upgrading an 840MW hydrogen-capable gas turbine combined power plant.
Initially, the plant will run on a blend of 30% green hydrogen and 70% natural gas, starting in 2025, and hopes to transition to 100% green hydrogen by 2045.
Michael Ducker, Senior Vice-President of Hydrogen Infrastructure at Mitsubishi Power Americas, said, “The Advanced Clean Energy Storage team, with its world-class industry partners, is excited to secure this loan by DOE to develop the first phase of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen energy hub.
“This step creates a path to accelerate the long-term hydrogen market and clean energy landscape to expand decarbonisation across the US.”
This is the first loan guarantee from the DOE since 2014, deepening the office’s commitment to development of the hydrogen industry.
Jennifer Granholm, US Secretary of Energy, said, “Since President Biden’s first day in office, DOE has made it a priority to leverage the potential of the Loan Programs Office to fund emerging technologies that will deploy clean and reliable energy to Americans.
“Accelerating the commercial deployment of clean hydrogen as a zero-emission, long-term energy storage solution is the first step in harnessing its potential to decarbonise our economy, create good paying clean energy jobs and enable more renewables to be added to the grid.”
The US DOE announced on Monday (June 6) the launch of its $2.6m Hydrogen Shot Incubator Prize, to encourage development of hydrogen technology to achieve its goal of reducing the price of clean hydrogen to $1/kg by the end of the decade.
Read more: $2.6m Hydrogen Shot Incubator Prize launched by DOE
North American Hydrogen Summit
H2 View is taking its events platform to America’s original clean hydrogen hub of California. Together with the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP), we will stage our North American Hydrogen Summit in San Francisco on July 14-15.
As our summit theme Building Bridges: Hydrogen hubs and investment suggests, the event will explore the $8bn of funding announced to create at least four regional hydrogen hubs in the US. These hubs will turbo-charge the nation’s progress toward heavy trucking and industrial sectors that run without producing carbon pollution – and they may just provide the path forward to a hydrogen-fuelled future.
With California and Texas vying to be America’s hydrogen capital today, where are the hubs of tomorrow? Further still, what can other states, and countries, learn from California’s success story? And how can we build bridges to a successful flow of international investment?
If you are a member of the CaFCP, be sure to grab your ticket at a discounted rate with a code that can be provided to you by the events team.
Full information about this event including attendance and sponsorship packages can be found here.