Hydrogen

Hydrogen storage project wins conditional commitment from DOE

The Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project is expected to be the world’s largest industrial green hydrogen production and storage facility, and it just received a large conditional financial commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Hydrogen storage project wins conditional commitment from DOE

The Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project, which is expected to be one of the world’s largest industrial green hydrogen production and storage facilities, received a conditional financial commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The department said it would provide up to $504.4 million in debt financing for the project, which is owned by the joint venture of Mitsubishi Power Americas and Magnum Development, LCC.

The Advanced Clean Energy Storage site is located in Delta, Utah and adjacent to the Intermountain Power Plant. IPP will be the site of electrolysis powered by clean energy resources, plus underground salt cavern storage for the hydrogen produced by the electrolysis.

The hub was first announced in May 2019 and is now in the final stages of debt and equity closing. The project has inked contracts including offtake, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors, major equipment suppliers, and O&M providers.

The site would initially be designed to convert renewable energy through 220 MW of electrolyzers to produce up to 100 metric tons per day of green hydrogen, which will then be stored in two massive salt caverns each capable of storing 150 GWh of energy.

Mitsubishi Power plans to provide the hydrogen equipment integration, including the 220 MW of electrolyzers, gas separators, rectifiers, medium voltage transformers, and distributed control system.

The produced hydrogen would be used to power the Intermountain Power Agency’s (IPA) IPP Renewed Project — an 840 MW hydrogen capable gas turbine combined cycle power plant that will initially run on a blend of 30% green hydrogen and 70% natural gas by volume starting in 2025 and will increase to 100% by 2045. The project is to provide 840 MW of electricity to customers in Utah and Southern California.

Black & Veatch will provide EPC services for The Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project, helping to construct the hydrogen production facilities.

WSP is expected to provide EPC Management services for the development of two large salt cavern storage facilities. WSP has been developing underground storage facilities since the 1980s.

NAES Corp. will initially provide the O&M services for the plant and will oversee a current projected team of 20 plant-related personnel.

Haddington Ventures, the financial advisor and equity sponsor of Magnum Development, is securing $650 million, which would help ensure the growth and scalability of the hub.

“We are unbelievably excited to reach this important milestone, not just for our hub, but for the hydrogen industry as a whole,” said Michael Ducker, Senior Vice President of Hydrogen Infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power Americas and President of Advanced Clean Energy Storage I.

Mitsubishi Power noted while this conditional commitment demonstrates the DOE’s intent to finance the project, certain conditions must be satisfied before the department issues a loan guarantee.