Published: February 10, 2025
By Concentric Staff Writer
Key takeaways
- The new administration of President Donald Trump is reversing policies of President Joe Biden regarding liquified natural gas, such as a U.S. Department of Energy decision almost a year ago to halt permits for new LNG export facilities, which Trump did away with on his first day in office.
- The war between Russia and Ukraine is leading Europe to seek natural gas supplies elsewhere, prodding production in the U.S., where LNG export capacity is set to double with the construction of new export facilities.
- U.S. House Republicans and others had resisted the release last month of a U.S. Department of Energy Report saying that increasing U.S. export capacity would drive up domestic prices and increase greenhouse gas emissions.
The dynamics around liquified natural gas (LNG), a major U.S. energy export, have been in flux. We are now observing the impact of President Donald Trump and his immediate reversal of the actions taken by President Joe Biden that froze permits for new LNG export terminals.
Biden’s focus had been on mitigating LNG exports in the name of climate change, while Trump stands in sharp opposition to that viewpoint for the U.S., the world’s number one exporter of LNG.
Trump on Jan. 20 reversed the Biden Administration’s pause on LNG exports with an executive order, part of his “Unleashing American Energy” initiative. The move drew praise from natural gas producers.
“There is the initial positive impact of putting people back to work not only with LNG transport, but with the existing ongoing LNG construction sites that are currently under contract but were paused by Biden, as well as several projects that had been permitted and will now be financed and the construction work allowed to begin,” James Flores, CEO, Sable Offshore Corp., said in an online post promoted by DOE.
Flores said the move would cause a wave of LNG exports that would help balance a trade deficit and strengthen America’s energy security.
Additionally, Trump on Feb. 1 announced a 25-percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10-percent on Chinese imports to address what he called “an emergency situation” at U.S. borders posed by “illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl.”
Trump then put a 30-day pause on the new tariffs a few days later after public statements from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that they would bolster border security.
China quickly retaliated with tariffs of its own, including a 10-percent tariff on U.S. coal and LNG, to take effect Feb. 10.
U.S. LNG exports rose since halfway through 2024, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, rising from 356,423 million cubic feet in June 2024 to 376,065 million cubic feet in November.
The LNG export price also rose during that time, from $6.57 per thousand cubic feet to $6.70 per thousand cubic feet between June 2024 and November 2024, according to EIA.
Biden’s efforts to slow U.S. exports faltered when Judge James Cain of the Western District of Louisiana, a Trump appointee, in July put a stay on the Biden LNG export ban, ruling on a request from 16 states. Cain argued that DOE had ignored the stay’s impact on national security, state revenues, employment opportunities, funding for schools and charities, and pollution allegedly caused by increased reliance on foreign energy sources.
In December, Biden’s DOE released a study saying that large amounts of LNG exports will drive up domestic energy prices and thwart greenhouse gas-reduction goals, including development of wind and solar generation.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed back on both Biden’s moratorium and the study. In February 2024, 150 House Republicans called for Biden to reverse his moratorium, saying it is “economically and strategically dangerous and unnecessary.” Noting that other countries are looking for supplies outside of Russia, the moratorium reduces national security and puts strategic markets at risk, the elected officials said.
“Your administration should do everything it can to encourage greater production of clean-burning and reliable natural gas, and to grant the export permits that allow access to global markets,” a Feb. 4, 2024 letter to Biden from the House Republicans says.
The debate occurs as North America’s LNG export capacity is due to more than double between 2024 and 2028, from 114 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2023 to 24.4 Bcf/d in 2028, based on current construction plans, according to EIA data. Over that period, export capacity is projected to grow by 0.8 Bcf/d in Mexico, 2.5 Bcf/d in Canada, and 9.7 Bcf/d in the U.S. from 10 new projects that are currently under construction in the three countries.
Five LNG export projects with a combined export capacity of 9.7 Bcf/d are under construction in the U.S., including Venture Global’s Plaquemines Phase I and Phase II in Port Sulphur, Louisiana and Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi Stage III on the Gulf Coast in Texas, both of which began producing LNG in December.
There are also other LNG projects in the works, including QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil’s Golden Pass, NextDecade’s Rio Grande (Phase I), and Port Arthur (Phase I), all in Texas.
Natural gas is also flowing from the U.S. via the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline to Mexican floating LNG terminals such as the Fast LNG Altamira and Energía Costa Azul LNG export terminal (0.4 Bcf/d export capacity) in Baja, California in western Mexico. Phase II of the later project is due to expand by 1.6 Bcf/d. Five other projects are proposed on the west coast of Mexico, with a combined capacity of 4.5 Bcf/d, according to the EIA.
In the North, gas from western Canada will supply three proposed projects with a combined capacity of 2.5 Bcf/d in British Columbia on Canada’s west coast. They include LNG Canada (export capacity 1.8 Bcf/d) with a plan to begin LNG exports from Train 1 in the summer of 2025; Woodfibre LNG (export capacity 0.3 Bcf/d) with exports beginning in 2027; and Cedar LNG, the nation’s first indigenous-owned project with a capacity of 0.4 Bcf/d, due to begin exports in 2028. Canada has authorized four other LNG expansion projects with a combined capacity of 4.1 Bcf/d.
The relationship between domestic production, imports, and exports have shifted as the production environment in the U.S. has changed. The shale gas boom of the late 2000s reversed trends and led to efforts to reactivate dormant import facilities, some of which were transferred to export beginning in 2016, according to S&P Global. U.S. export capacity sat at 13 bcf/d in 2024, with exports going to Europe, South America, Asia, and North Africa.
The value of LNG exports has exceeded others such as soybeans, corn, and even movies and television entertainment.
DOE’s study issued in December is intended to “provide an updated understanding of the potential effects of U.S. LNG exports on the domestic economy, U.S. households and consumers; communities that live near locations where natural gas is produced or exported; domestic and international energy security, including effects on U.S. trading partners; and the environment and climate,” the agency said.
There is “inherent uncertainty” regarding the state of U.S. LNG exports through 2050, the study says, which added the effort is not intended to be a forecast but rather explore a range of scenarios. DOE is responsible for authorizing exports of LNG under the Natural Gas Act. By 2050, projections of U.S. LNG exports exceed the export volume from LNG projects in operation or under construction, the agency said.
Globally, the market for LNG has been increasing in recent years and re-gasification and import infrastructure is being built, although future demand is uncertain and centers of demand are shifting, DOE said. Overseas countries include LNG as part of their strategies because it supports dispatchable power generation, often from existing infrastructure, which also leads to their policies driving U.S. export dynamics. Europe has been the primary destination for U.S. natural gas historically.
In Europe, policies reducing the usage of fossil fuels, including natural gas, could come into play, but demand for gas and LNG from Asia is expected to increase. By 2050, China is expected to be the largest LNG importer, according to the DOE study.
In analyzing the economic impact of new LNG projects in the U.S., DOE said, “natural gas production and the development of natural gas export infrastructure tends to increase employment in regions and communities where it occurs, but some evidence indicates that jobs often go to people who either move to the area for the jobs or commute from other areas, rather than to long-term residents.”
The U.S. has been a net exporter of LNG since 2016, when the first export terminal in the lower 48 states began operation. Average annual U.S. nameplate export capacity increased from 1.0 Bcf/d in 2016 to 11.9 Bcf/d in 2023, DOE said.
LNG demand growth in the first half of 2024 was driven by double-digit growth in China and India, but the outlook demand is “fragile,” according to the International Energy Agency. The second quarter of 2024 was marked by slacking global LNG production and price volatility. Asian demand was forecast to push up 2024 global demand by 2.5 percent, IEA said.
“Geopolitical instability represents the greatest risk to the short-term outlook. LNG trade has practically halted across the Red Sea since the start of the year, while Russia is increasingly targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine, including underground gas storage facilities,” IEA said in its quarterly Gas Market Report.
Asia accounted for about 60 percent of the increase in global gas demand over the first half of 2024, with demand increasing by about 10 percent in both China and India.
Production-wise, global LNG supply growth was a scant 2 percent in the first half of 2024. LNG output fell in the second quarter by .5 percent or .5 billion cubic meters (bcm). This was the first quarter-over-quarter decline since Covid-19 lockdowns crippled LNG demand and caused the cancellation of cargos. Feed gas supply issues and unexpected outages drove production declines in the second quarter. But the expansion of U.S. export capability accelerated LNG supply capability in the second half of 2024.
In North America, residential and commercial demand weakened in the first quarter of 2024 because of unseasonably mild weather, but growth in natural gas-fired power generation offset this. Low gas prices in the early part of the year led U.S. upstream suppliers to cut dry gas output, damping gas production downward by 1.5 percent in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2024.
The war in Ukraine is leading European countries to push to diversify their natural gas supply, spurring interest in new projects such as a $44 billion natural gas pipeline in Alaska that would run between the North Slope and Nikiski, along the shore of Cook Inlet.
State corporation Alaska Gasline Development Corp. is leading an effort to develop the pipeline, recently announcing a contractual agreement with Glenfarne Group LLC, according to Alaska Public Media. The 800-mile project has been in the works for decades with its prospects fluctuating depending on costs and demand dynamics. Gov. Mike Dunleavey said that the Trump administration will be more accommodating to the project compared with Biden.
Background information and cited sources
This article drew on sources such as the U.S. DOE, corporate websites, S&P Global, U.S. House documents, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the International Energy Agency, and Alaska Public Media.
President Donald Trump Jan. 20 executive order
President Donald Trump Feb. 1 executive order
EIA data: U.S. Natural Gas Exports and Re-Exports by Country
Feb. 24 letter to President Joe Biden from U.S. House of Representatives Republicans
U.S. DOE Study: Energy, Economic, and Environmental Assessment of U.S. LNG Exports
— All views expressed by the author are solely the author’s current views and do not reflect the views of Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., its affiliates, subsidiaries, related companies, or clients. The author’s views are based upon information the author considers reliable at the time of publication. However, neither Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, and related companies warrant the information’s completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such.
Published: January 24, 2024
By: Concentric Staff Writer
The vast amount of geothermal energy surging under the surface of the Earth is one of the most ancient resources in existence, but it has yet to be significantly harnessed for public consumption in the United States, including the western part of the country where its potential is the greatest.
There are regulatory and economic hurdles to traverse for geothermal, which Indigenous people have used for more than 10,000 years for heat and healing rituals at sites such as the present-day location of Calpine’s The Geysers facility in northern California. But geothermal has been tepidly pursued on a commercial level in the U.S.—a situation that begs for more analysis of how this plentiful, zero-emission resource can be better harnessed.
The recent activation of the first major enhanced geothermal system (EGS) in the U.S. is a milestone for an energy resource that has long been recognized as both plentiful and clean. Fervo Energy, in partnership with Google, said on November 28 that it began operating a new 3.5-MW EGS geothermal plant in Nevada to power data centers in Las Vegas and other locations in the state. EGS technology employs vertical and horizontal drilling, pumped water, and rock fracturing to extract steam from underground heat to power above-ground turbines. This technique is in contrast to regular geothermal development that relies on naturally occurring permeable rock to extract heat and steam.
Geothermal energy is virtually limitless, “always on,” and a “50-state solution,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which in 2019 launched its GeoVision program to explore new potential for the resource. Improvements in technology and tools could reduce costs and increase geothermal development, according to DOE, which says there is potential for 60 gigawatts electric (GWe) of geothermal energy capacity to be developed by 2050. EGS can also be developed in more locations since it is not limited by rock permeability and other factors that affect traditional geothermal development.
Optimizing and streamlining permitting timelines are other ways to increase EGS, as well as addressing regulatory and land-access barriers, DOE said. This would reduce development timelines as well as financing costs during construction, as has happened with oil and gas development over time. A “business-as-usual” DOE scenario predicts about 60 GWe of potential development by 2050, a target DOE said could be met “without significant impacts on the nation’s water resources.”
DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office analyzed development scenarios through 2050, aimed at five key activities, including defining and evaluating geothermal growth scenarios using data and modeling and addressing “all major geothermal resource and markets segments.” This would include hydrothermal and EGS resources, as well as electric and non-electric applications. DOE said it is using a transparent process supported by peer-reviewed data to produce a vision for geothermal growth and articulate strategies to achieve it.
Geothermal, which had the first few gigawatts of capacity installed in the U.S. in the 1980s, is also an under-recognized resource for the heating and cooling of homes and businesses using geothermal heat pumps (GHP). GHP deployment currently is at about 16.8 GW thermal (GWth), equivalent to about 2 million households, according to DOE. Water usage can be conserved by using non-freshwater resources for this equipment.
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act increased the federal tax credit for GHP from 26 percent to 30 percent and extended the credit until 2034. Homeowners must have installed and begun running systems that meet certain efficiency requirements to use the credit.
In 2022, geothermal made up 1.6 percent of U.S. primary energy consumption, a metric that includes transportation, industrial, residential, and commercial energy usage in U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysis. Geothermal is classified as a renewable energy source along with solar, wind, hydroelectric, and biomass, while primary energy sources as defined by EIA include natural gas, petroleum, nuclear electric power, and coal.
Despite the interest in new EGS, geothermal development has remained relatively flat in the U.S. over the past two decades, according to EIA data. U.S. geothermal net generation for all sectors monthly was about 1.2 million megawatt hours in January 2004, compared with 1.4 million MWh in September of this year, nearly two decades later. One of the reasons is the significant barriers in terms of cost and risk associated with the subsurface exploration that occurs in geothermal development.
There are other particular economic reasons why geothermal development has remained flat, according to a March report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The study looked at empirical data from power purchase agreements (PPA) and examined geothermal’s role in wholesale electricity markets, where enthusiasm for the resource is affected by its lower net value relative to its PPA price.
“In the face of this challenging market outlook, policy intervention, and continued R&D investments may be warranted to sustain a vibrant geothermal industry that stands ready to contribute to the late stages of decarbonization,” LBNL said in the report. The underground heat source can also work in tandem with other low-emission technologies, such as hydrogen production and direct-air carbon capture, as well as for heating and cooling purposes.
Less than .5 GW of geothermal has come online in the U.S. in six western states where it holds major potential—California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon—and a minuscule 1 GW has been added in the past century nationwide.
When assessing geothermal resources, “identified” resources refer to those that have been located, assessed, and proven to exist, while “undiscovered” resources refer to potential reservoirs that are believed to exist based on exploratory techniques, but not directly confirmed to be accessible. Of the identified 39 GW of undiscovered geothermal capacity in the six western states, only 3.7 GW of capacity has been deployed thus far, not counting the new Google facility. Geothermal was boosted by a June 2021 “mid-term reliability procurement” order from California state regulators for 1 GW of zero-emission, high-capacity factor, non-weather dependent resources, namely geothermal. This will spur geothermal’s competitiveness through 2026, according to LBNL, along with regulatory drivers such as California’s SB 100 legislation and integrated resource planning in other Western states. This will result in new geothermal capacity sold to utilities and other procurement heavyweights in California like community choice aggregators (CCA).
LBNL analyzed historical PPA prices to judge the value of geothermal energy against competing resources such as solar, wind, and solar plus storage. Geothermal power plants do not require ongoing fuel procurement but are capital-intensive in the development phase, and capital costs make up the bulk of the required investment. Longer-term PPA structures of 15 to 30 years reduce project risks and attract financing, according to the LBNL report.
Geothermal also provides round-the-clock energy compared to variable energy resources such as solar and wind, which depend on weather and provide different energy and capacity benefits. Due to structures such as the wholesale power market in California, four hours of standard lithium-ion storage is rated similarly to geothermal in terms of capacity value. (Capacity value reflects contributions to local or regional resource adequacy requirements, in contrast to “energy value,” which refers to a resource’s specific hourly generation output.)
Solar and storage projects are also dominating interconnection queues around the country, particularly in the West. Solar and wind plus storage represent geothermal’s primary competition with an outsized presence in interconnection queues.
Geothermal appeared in CCA Silicon Valley Power’s (SVP) 2023 Integrated Resource Plan, which is aimed at compliance with state greenhouse gas emission-reduction standards and other policies. SVP sees geothermal becoming available for its resource mix in 2028. Geothermal enjoys a high load factor, and SVP plans the addition of 290 MW of new geothermal, along with 590 MW of wind, 150 MW of solar, and 110 MW of storage capacity by 2035.
“SVP faces a common challenge of deeply decarbonized systems, which is the ability to provide power reliably without firm dispatchable (emitting) thermal plants,” the CCA said. “Clean firm resources not only provide clean energy, but also firm capacity to help ensure system reliability. The clean, firm, and baseload characteristics of geothermal align well with SVP’s forecasted load growth and load shape and could provide a key clean firm option.”
But SVP says that there might only be 3.4 GW of geothermal available to California, and the California Public Utilities Commission’s mid-term reliability order requires procurement of a long lead-time resource—geothermal—which could provide competition and reduce the amount of geothermal available to SVP.
SVP will deliver energy to the City of Santa Clara through a long-term PPA with Calpine geothermal facilities in Sonoma and Lake Counties beginning in 2025. This contract will deliver up to 50 MW in 2025-2026 and increase to 100 MW in 2027-2036.
According to the International Energy Agency, EGS has many benefits including zero emissions and that it is reliable baseload power that can supplement the intermittent output of renewables. It also has a smaller physical footprint compared to resources such as wind and solar and requires a skill set similar to oil and natural gas workers, providing possible new jobs as those industries transition to a more zero-emissions-based economy.
To advance EGS, IEA recommends increasing funding for EGS research and demonstration projects, providing tax incentives and other financing tools to support geothermal projects, and demonstrating the potential of large-scale geothermal development to the public.
An “enhanced geothermal earthshot analysis” published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) shines more light on EGS, including a 20-percent reduction in drilling costs from GeoVision projections and productivity increases. Regional studies and other sources were used to augment the EGS potential in the western U.S. by NREL. The study projected a total installed geothermal resource of 38.3 GW in 2035 and 90.5 GW in 2050 under the updated assumptions. Geothermal accounts for a little under 2 percent of national generating capacity in 2035 and a little under 4 percent in 2050 due to a high-capacity factor compared to other renewable resources and increased EGS deployment.
The slow pace of geothermal development is in sharp contrast to other zero-emission resources like solar, wind, and battery storage, and a cost gap remains. NREL said the cost of geothermal deployments is affected by which market they are deployed in and varies with time and location due to “variations in demand and the cost and availability of competing technologies.” EGS deployment costs are higher in the eastern U.S. because of fewer and lower-quality resources, thus making EGS deployment in the West easier. The cost of EGS resources varies by location, demand, and the cost of competing decarbonization policies.
Geothermal is poised to play a larger role in U.S. energy production as transitions to zero-emission technologies continue, bolstered by strong regulatory and policy support at the federal level. Perhaps the future will see this resource become more competitive as its potential is continually explored.
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All views expressed by the author are solely the author’s current views and do not reflect the views of Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., its affiliates, subsidiaries, related companies, or clients. The author’s views are based upon information the author considers reliable at the time of publication. However, neither Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, and related companies warrant the information’s completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such.
Published: June 8, 2023
By Concentric Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on June 5 issued a new framework for accelerating the production and usage of clean hydrogen over the coming decades, its latest effort to support the technology as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to combat climate change.
The U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap will provide a “snapshot” of hydrogen production, transport, storage and usage in the U.S. today as well as a plan for large-scale clean hydrogen scenarios for 2030, 2040 and 2050, DOE said. It also identifies needs for collaboration between government agencies, industry, academia, national laboratories, tribal communities, environmental groups, labor unions, and others.
“Accelerating the deployment of hydrogen is key to achieving President Biden’s vision for an affordable, secure clean energy future,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in a written statement. “That’s why DOE worked alongside our federal partners to develop the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap that will lay the foundation for a strong and productive partnership between the public and private sectors and will guide government and industry to realize the full potential of this incredibly versatile energy resource.”
The plan has three major strategies, including targeting strategic uses for clean hydrogen in high-impact applications where there are limited alternatives, such as in the industrial sector, heavy-duty transportation and long-duration energy storage. A second strategy is reducing the cost of clean hydrogen through innovation, scaling up, stimulating private sector investment and developing a clean-hydrogen supply chain, while a third strategy is focusing on regional networks with large-scale clean-hydrogen development.
The roadmap was released in draft form in September 2022 for comment, and the new plan includes input from industry, academia, and non-profits as well as state, local, and tribal governments, DOE said. It is a “living document” that will be updated every three years.
DOE said that clean hydrogen offers substantial economic benefits and will create thousands of new, good-paying jobs, especially in disadvantaged communities. A DOE report issued in March, Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Clean Hydrogen, found that that new hydrogen economy could add 100,000 net new and indirect jobs by 2030.
A May 11 proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for new source performance standards for power plants also included low-greenhouse gas hydrogen co-firing among the technologies that can be applied directly to power plants that use fossil fuels.
The plan responds to language in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Public Law 117-58) signed by Biden in 2021, which included a $9.5 billion investment in clean hydrogen, and the Inflation Reduction Act that included a new production tax credit for clean hydrogen.
According to DOE, demand scenarios for 2030, 2040 and 2050 identified pathways for clean hydrogen decarbonization applications with opportunities for 10 million metric tons (MMT) of clean hydrogen annually by 2030, 20 MMT by 2040, and 50 MMT by 2050. Clean hydrogen can also reduce U.S. emissions by 10 percent by 2050 relative to 2005, consistent with the U.S. Long-Term Climate Strategy, the agency said.
While the U.S. Congress required DOE to develop the strategy and roadmap, it will be developed across many agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, and Treasury, the EPA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House.
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All views expressed by the author are solely the author’s current views and do not reflect the views of Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., its affiliates, subsidiaries, or related companies. The author’s views are based upon information the author considers reliable at the time of publication. However, neither Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, and related companies warrant the information’s completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such.
Published: March 16, 2023
By: Concentric Staff Writer
It is no secret that hydrogen, the most abundant and lightest element in the universe, is also one of the most powerful. Research in recent years is moving closer towards expanding its commercial applications to power generation and transportation.
Hydrogen has many applications and is already in widespread use in industrial processes such as refining petroleum, treating metals, making fertilizer, and processing foods, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It is even used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for rocket fuel and fuel cells that power spacecraft. Now, new efforts are underway aimed at making hydrogen an everyday part of the power sector and the U.S. vehicle fleet.
The Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”), passed in the summer of 2022, has created a surge in the development of the hydrogen resource. In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) responded to concept papers submitted for a program created by the IRA, known as the Regional Clean Hydrogen program. DOE, in a news release, said the program “will be a central driver in helping communities across the country benefit from clean energy investments, good-paying jobs, and improved energy security—all while supporting President Joe Biden’s goal of a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.”
DOE describes hydrogen hubs as a network of clean-hydrogen producers, consumers, and “connective infrastructure in close proximity.” The 79 concept papers from states and their partners submitted to DOE flow from the $7 billion funding opportunity the agency issued in September 2022. The concept papers requested nearly $60 billion total, eight to nine times the amount of the funding solicitation, and proposed almost $150 billion in private capital for projects with many different technologies and in every region of the country. DOE said it sought the best hydrogen-based solutions possible and the concept paper solicitation was aimed at getting a better understanding of what final funding applications might look like. The concept papers were judged based on a series of criteria, including qualifications, experience, and capabilities of the applicant; expected contributions toward a national hydrogen network; plans to develop production, end-use, and connective facilities; and community benefits.
One of the concept papers that received an encouragement letter from DOE is the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub, a project between the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The four states are keen on developing hydrogen as a safe, clean, and sustainable energy resource.
“This strategy will help to meet the region’s diverse energy needs and policy goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, using a broad range of feedstock to develop hydrogen, ensuring economic competitiveness, and supporting communities on the front lines of the energy transition,” the four-state coalition said in a December press release. According to DOE, an “encouragement” letter does not mean a project will be selected, and those that received “discouragement” notices are still free to apply. The encouragement letters mean the applicant is “on the right path” to submitting a full application, and the agency said there will be heavy competition for the funding, even among entities that received encouragement letters.
Other hydrogen hub projects selected by DOE for letters of encouragement include efforts in the Northwest, one by Obsidian Renewables and another by the governments of Washington and Oregon; the Halo Hub, a partnership between Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma; the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub in West Virginia, supported by that state, Kentucky, Ohio, and Maryland; the HyVelocity Hub in Texas; and others.
Hydrogen is also being explored for electricity generation with several projects underway to convert former natural gas-burning plants to burn hydrogen. One is the 485-MW Long Ridge Energy Generation Project in Ohio, which will run on a 95-percent natural gas, 5-percent hydrogen blend in a gas turbine with plans to burn pure hydrogen eventually. Intermountain Power Agency in Utah also plans to convert to hydrogen from coal, and there is a plan to convert the 830-MW Scattergood Generating Station in Los Angeles to hydrogen from natural gas. The Los Angeles City Council on Feb. 8 in a 12-0 vote approved allowing the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (“LADWP”) to move forward with a competitive bidding process for the project, but also approved a separate resolution requiring LADWP to closely communicate with the council on its progress.
However, hydrogen is not popular with most environmental groups—Food & Water Watch (“F&WW”) has indicated its opposition to the hydrogen hubs program. Environmental groups say it is an effort by the fossil fuel industry to support natural gas, which is used to produce “blue hydrogen.” Separately, “green hydrogen” is hydrogen produced from renewable resources. According to French utility company Engie, the most common way to create green hydrogen is electrolysis using water and electricity produced from non-carbon-emitting resources, or using another technique known as pyro-gasification in which heat is applied to biomass such as wood or agricultural waste to produce a complex gas from which hydrogen is extracted.
F&WW, which also opposes the Scattergood repowering, says corporations are pushing hydrogen to keep fossil-fuel facilities alive and that burning hydrogen produces smog through the production of nitrogen oxides. Turbine manufacturer Mitsubishi says its hydrogen turbines that burn 70 percent hydrogen and 30 percent natural gas produce about the same carbon dioxide emissions as burning straight natural gas.
Hydrogen fuel cells, which are already being used in commercially available vehicles, generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, water, and heat in a process similar to that of a battery. Fuel cells, depending on size, are used for a range of applications, from consumer products such as laptop computers and cellphones to power grids, backup generation, and microgrid applications.
At the end of October 2021, there were about 166 operating fuel cell electric power generations at 113 facilities making up about 260 MW of generation capacity. The largest such facility is the 16-MW Bridgeport Fuel Cell in Connecticut, followed by the Red Lion Energy Center in Delaware, which has five fuel cells totaling 25 MW.
On the transportation side, hydrogen is not only being explored for ground-based vehicles, but also airplanes. ZeroAvia, founded in 2018, is focused on repowering existing aircraft with electric motors, fuel cells, and hydrogen. It has signed memoranda of understanding with several aircraft manufacturers to attain help in certifying the technology. ZeroAvia hopes to develop a 600-kilowatt powertrain by 2025 for an aircraft with 19 seats able to fly up to 300 nautical miles. In 2027, it hopes to launch a modular 2- to 5-megawatt drivetrain, able to retrofit aircraft with up to 80 seats for flights up to 700 miles, and higher-output drivetrains in later years.
Hydrogen vehicles utilize electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Toyota has been a leader in this area, with several models publicly available. However, unlike electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles still have a relatively high fuel cost per gallon of hydrogen, and a higher up-front purchase price, and the hydrogen-station network needed to support these vehicles is still in its nascent stages.
According to DOE, transporting hydrogen requires either a pipeline network of cryogenic liquid tanker trucks or gaseous tube trailers. Development of pipelines must be in areas with substantial, stable hydrogen demand in the area of hundreds of tons per day. Liquification plants, tankers, and trailers are deployed in areas where demand is at a smaller scale or emerging. Additional infrastructure is needed at the point of hydrogen use, including compression, storage, dispensing, metering, and contaminant detection and purification technologies.
Several companies are capable of delivering bulk hydrogen today, DOE said, and some infrastructure is in place because of its usage in industrial applications, but more research and development, expansion of the supply chain, and new deployments will be needed before it is in widespread application. Some of the biggest challenges are in the areas of reducing cost, increasing its efficiency, maintaining hydrogen purity, and minimizing leakage from infrastructure, the agency said. The necessary infrastructure will depend on the region and the type of market—urban, interstate, or rural—but these options will also evolve as demand grows and technology improves. If all the various pieces fall into place, hydrogen might enjoy a long future as a vital power source in the U.S. energy mix.
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All views expressed by the author are solely the author’s current views and do not reflect the views of Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., its affiliates, subsidiaries, or related companies. The author’s views are based upon information the author considers reliable at the time of publication. However, neither Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc., nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, and related companies warrant the information’s completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such.