Chevron has introduced plans to develop its first inexperienced hydrogen plant on the Misplaced Hills oil discipline in Kern County, southern California.
This mission will draw on energy from an current 29MW photo voltaic array, which the US oil main estimates presently meets 80% of the oil discipline’s annual power demand, to supply as much as 2.2 tonnes of H2 a day from a 5MW electrolyser from early 2026.
Chevron plans to make use of “non-potable” water that could be a by-product from its operations on the oil discipline, which is non-drinkable however can nonetheless be used as a feedstock for inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing.
The Misplaced Hills mission will provide H2 for a refuelling community in California. In 2022, Chevron and Japanese oil agency Iwatani agreed to co-develop 30 hydrogen filling stations throughout the state by 2026. Nonetheless, whereas Iwatani lists 4 H2 refuelling websites as operational on its web site, it has claimed in a lawsuit with know-how provider Nel that one other six stations have been too faulty to proceed to function or begin up.
Fellow oil main Shell has exited the market for suppling hydrogen gas to light-duty passenger automobiles in California, though it has saved open three websites devoted to serving vehicles.
Chevron additionally notes that beginning up the 5MW Misplaced Hills electrolyser will rely upon plenty of components, together with insurance policies and laws at each federal and state ranges being “versatile and supportive”.
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This might confer with the ultimate steerage for the 45V clear hydrogen manufacturing tax credit score, which presents $3 per kilo so long as carbon depth is not any greater than 0.45kgCO2e/kgH2.
The draft guidelines launched by the Treasury in December embrace standards for zero-carbon energy provide to return from new belongings constructed inside three years of the hydrogen facility, reasonably than drawing from current renewables or nuclear, and for electrical energy utilized by electrolysers to be matched with renewable power on an hourly foundation from 2028.
Whereas environmental teams and analysts have argued that these guardrails are vital to forestall zero-carbon electrical energy to be taken away from the grid, requiring its substitute with fossil-fired energy technology, trade voices have argued that these guidelines will make inexperienced H2 costlier, making it unimaginable for the 45V tax credit score to fill in the fee hole with fossil-fuel-derived gray hydrogen or diesel (ie, in transport).
On a state-level, California requires a 3rd of the hydrogen provided to subsidised refuelling stations to be renewable. An meeting invoice that might have set additionality and hourly matching necessities as a matter of authorized compliance for this H2 died in early February throughout a 3rd studying.
Whereas the Misplaced Hills mission would be the first solely developed by Chevron, this won’t be the primary electrolyser mission within the US oil main’s portfolio to begin up.
Final September, Chevron purchased a majority stake into the ACES Delta improvement in Utah, a 220MW mission with salt-cavern storage for 11,000 tonnes of H2, which is able to provide a close-by 840MW gas-fired energy plant. The electrolysers have already been delivered, with first manufacturing prone to begin in 2025.
Chevron additionally owns 50% of a waste-to-hydrogen facility to be in-built northern California this 12 months, from which it additionally plans to produce refuelling stations within the state.
This text was revealed first by Hydrogen Perception
