You’re the Ones That I Need, Encore Version – DOE Is on Its Approach to Choosing Hydrogen Hub ‘Winners’

The division’s September 22 Funding Alternative Announcement (FOA), which formally launched the method of receiving and reviewing hydrogen hub proposals, outlined a clear hydrogen hub as “a community of fresh hydrogen producers, potential clear hydrogen customers, and connective infrastructure situated in shut proximity.” Clear hydrogen, in flip, is outlined as hydrogen produced both by nuclear- or renewables-powered electrolyzers or by operating pure gasoline by means of SMRs or ATRs — steam methane reformers or auto-thermal reformers, respectively — and capturing and sequestering a lot of the ensuing carbon dioxide, or CO₂.

Determine 1 illustrates the elements of a potential hydrogen hub, starting with the assorted sources of vitality that may be used to energy hydrogen manufacturing (nuclear, renewables or fossil fuels — inexperienced markers to upper-left); the clear hydrogen producers (nuclear- or renewables-powered electrolysis or steam-methane or auto-thermal reforming of pure gasoline with carbon seize and sequestration, or CCS — yellow-bordered space); connective infrastructure (pipelines, storage and different supply assist — green-bordered space at heart); and clear hydrogen clients (business, energy technology, residential/industrial heating, and transportation — blue-bordered space).

Determine 1. Potential Hydrogen Hub Elements. Supply: DOE

As for the standards DOE will use in its evaluate of the idea papers and full proposals, the division lists these:

• Feedstock variety. At the least one hub will use renewable energy (and electrolysis) to make hydrogen, one other will use nuclear energy (and electrolysis), and one more will use pure gasoline, SMRs or ATRs, and CCS.
• Finish-use variety. At the least one hub will use the clear hydrogen produced there within the electrical energy sector, the economic sector, the residential/industrial heating sector, and the transportation sector.
• Geographic variety. The chosen hubs shall be in several areas of the U.S. and can use vitality sources considerable there.
• Hubs in pure gasoline manufacturing areas. At the least two hubs shall be in components of the U.S. with the best pure gasoline sources.
• Employment. The DOE will give additional weight to proposals more likely to create probably the most alternatives for expert coaching and long-term employment.

[RBN’s U.S. Gulf Coast Hydrogen Infrastructure Map lays out the pipelines and merchant hydrogen plants that make up the gulf coast market, providing an unprecedented snapshot of the region’s hydrogen infrastructure network.]

In essence, the DOE is searching for to take full benefit of the distinctive traits of various components of the U.S. concerning vitality availability and potential end-users of fresh hydrogen. The division additionally has acknowledged that the proposed hubs shall be anticipated to steadiness hydrogen provide and demand, embody connective infrastructure, and plans for long-term monetary viability. Additional, the DOE mentioned it’ll favor proposals that had been developed with substantial engagement from native and regional stakeholders and Native American tribes and that may present vital advantages to deprived communities.

The hydrogen-hub proposals mentioned in the brand new Drill Down Report have variety in spades — in location, dimension, complexity and plenty of different traits. The standout amongst them will be the HyVelocity Hub proposal for a hydrogen community alongside the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana, a area that already has a powerful array of hydrogen manufacturing, pipeline and storage belongings  — to not point out pure gasoline provide, wind farms, photo voltaic amenities, carbon-sequestration potential, and scores of hydrogen end-users. The founding proponents of the HyVelocity Hub, which we focus on intimately within the report, embody the Heart for Houston’s Future, GTI Vitality, Chevron, Air Liquide and the College of Texas at Austin.

Among the many different hydrogen-hub proponents with seemingly sturdy instances to make for DOE assist are these within the Corpus Christi/Ingleside space in South Texas, California, the Louisiana-Arkansas-Oklahoma area, the Marcellus/Utica Shale, the Midwest/Nice Plains, the Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest. None of those provide the identical diploma of present hydrogen infrastructure because the Texas-Louisiana coast, however every has a number of essential promoting factors, equivalent to extraordinary photo voltaic potential and an enormous base of present or potential hydrogen end-users (California); in depth nuclear or hydroelectric producing capability (the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, respectively); and carbon-sequestration potential (the Marcellus/Utica, the Nice Plains and the Rockies).

Take into account, for instance, the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub (WIH2) proposal developed by 4 Rocky Mountain states: Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. In contrast to most others submitting idea papers to the DOE a couple of weeks in the past, WIH2 offered a abstract that describes the proposal in considerably particular phrases, leaving out just a few particulars that for now stay confidential.

Right here’s the gist of what WIH2 is about. To start with, companions embody the 4 states talked about above and several other private-sector entities, together with utilities (Xcel Colorado, New Mexico Fuel); midstream corporations and energy-infrastructure builders (Tallgrass Vitality, Avangrid, Dominion Vitality Utah); a hydrogen developer (Libertad Energy); and a big, Native-American-owned agricultural entity (Navajo Agricultural Manufacturing Industries) — plus Atkins, an engineering and consulting agency (and unit of SNC Lavalin Group) energetic in hydrogen growth initiatives world wide. Below WIH2’s proposal:

• Clear hydrogen could be produced at a complete of eight main manufacturing facilities, some by way of renewables-powered electrolysis and a few with pure gasoline and SMRs or ATRs with CCS. WIH2 anticipates that the facilities may have a mixed capability of 1,000 metric tons per day (MT/d) by Yr 7 of the hub’s growth, rising to 1,900 MT/d by Yr 12.
• The produced hydrogen could be transported both as a part of combined gasoline (pure gasoline plus hydrogen) in present pipelines, as 100% hydrogen by means of new pipelines, or in cryogenic type by truck to extra distant end-user websites.
• The hydrogen could be saved underground in “favorable geologic storage,” as line pack in hydrogen pipelines, or in cryogenic type.
• The hydrogen could be utilized in “all kinds of how, together with energy technology; load-leveling of the area’s rising use of renewable vitality; and for transportation and industrial purposes, together with refineries, ammonia manufacturing, metal manufacturing, cement manufacturing, brewing, and mining.”

WIH2 additionally mentioned it’ll undertake demonstration initiatives on the potential for utilizing blends of pure gasoline and hydrogen for residential/industrial heating. Determine 2 exhibits the 4 main manufacturing/transportation hubs (white circles numbered 1 by means of 4), pipeline connectivity (grey arrows), hydrogen storage areas (orange squares), and present power-generation amenities the place hydrogen could be used as a gasoline (pink squares).

Determine 2. Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub. Supply: WIH2

WIH2 and different proposals to the DOE appear terribly bold of their scope, contemplating the truth that the clear hydrogen business remains to be in its infancy. In some ways, the federal authorities’s aggressive efforts to create the business from scratch remind us of the push because the Nineteen Nineties to jump-start the build-out of wind and solar energy with beneficiant tax credit and different technique of assist. Right this moment, wind farms and photo voltaic amenities are thought of to be essential components of the U.S. power-generation sector in addition to key components of the federal government’s effort to attain climate-related objectives.

Nonetheless, there are main challenges related to making clear hydrogen a part of the mainstream. Producing hydrogen whereas producing little or no greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions requires huge quantities of latest renewable producing capability  — largely wind and photo voltaic — in addition to CCS-related belongings (CO₂ pipelines, sequestration websites and many others.). The event of a clear hydrogen business additionally would require new hydrogen pipelines and different infrastructure. And that’s what the DOE’s $8 billion hydrogen-hub program is all about, specifically supporting the build-out of concentrated, coordinated networks of fresh hydrogen manufacturing, transportation, storage and end-users.

Whereas it could be not possible to foretell which plans will in the end win the DOE’s assist, we absolutely anticipate the division to comply with its pointers concerning geographic variety and the remaining. That ought to lead to an fascinating mixture of winners and, probably, the beginnings of what might within the 2030s and ’40s evolve into inter-regional hubs and perhaps even a nationwide hydrogen community. For extra about our new Drill Down Report on clear hydrogen hub proposals, click on right here.

“You are the One That I Need” was written by John Farrar and seems because the fourth track on facet considered one of Grease: The Unique Soundtrack from the Movement Image. Sung by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, it was launched because the second single from the album in Could 1978. It went to #1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 Singles chart, bought greater than 15 million copies worldwide, and has been licensed Platinum by the Recording Trade Affiliation of America (RIAA). “You’re the One That I Need” was considered one of two numbers that John Farrar wrote for Olivia Newton-John’s look within the movie that weren’t within the authentic stage musical. Personnel on the file had been: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John (lead vocals); David Hungate (bass … try the groovin’ bass traces on this track); Ollie Brown (drums); John Farrar, Tommy Tedesco and Dennis Budimir (guitars); Louis St. Louis and Greg Mathieson (keyboards); and Eddie “Bongo” Brown, Larry Bunker, Victor Feldman and Antoine Dearborn (percussion). 

Grease: The Unique Soundtrack from the Movement Image was recorded in 1977-78 at Filmways/Wally Heider Recording Studios, United Western, and Hollywood Sound Recorders in Hollywood, and Standards Studios in Miami. Produced by Louis St. Louis, John Farrar, Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten, and Karl Richardson, the album was launched in April 1978 together with the discharge of the film. It went to #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and has been licensed 8x Platinum by the RIAA. Moreover Travolta and Newton-John, the album additionally featured performances by Frankie Valli and Sha Na Na. Six singles had been launched from the LP.

John Travolta is an American actor, singer, and dancer. He has launched 5 studio albums, 4 soundtrack albums, two compilation albums and 31 singles. Olivia Newton-John was a British-Australian singer and actress. She launched 26 studio albums, six stay albums, 14 compilation albums and 70 singles and has bought greater than 100 million information worldwide. She died in August 2022 on the age of 73.