US Department of Energy granted a loan guarantee in the amount of $504 million for the implementation of the world’s largest project for the production of absolutely environmentally friendly hydrogen and the preparation of its storage sites. Production will be set up in Utah. Hydrogen produced by electrolysis is planned to be stored in salt caves underground.
ACES project. Image Source: Mitsubishi Power Americas
The Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project will lead to the construction of 220 MW water electrolysis systems. Renewable energy, which is not accompanied by carbon emissions, will be used to decompose water and produce hydrogen. The plant will be capable of producing 100 tons of hydrogen every day – this is the first project of such a capacity in the world.
To store hydrogen, it will be pumped into natural underground reservoirs – salt caves. The volume of the caves is designed to store 5500 tons of hydrogen. The caves are owned by Magnum Development, which became a partner in the project, and Mitsubishi Power Americas is developing it. Thanks to the guarantees of the ministry, $650 million was attracted to the project, and this amount will increase.
The hydrogen produced at ACES is planned to be used as fuel for a gas turbine power plant under another project – the Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) IPP Renewed Project. The capacity of the power plant will reach 840 MW and it will provide the region with clean electricity. True, the power plant will start working on 100% hydrogen no earlier than 2045. From 2025, when it is due to be put into operation, the share of hydrogen in the fuel for the power plant will be at the level of 30%, and the remaining 70% will be natural gas.
The US authorities are paying enough attention to the new carbon-free energy. This week became knownthat the Department of Energy is launching a $8 billion national program to build major hydrogen production and storage centers in the US.
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