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14
June 2023
By John Stang
Washington vies to become a national hub
for hydrogen fuel
The state is helping lead a regional coalition
trying to secure federal funding–possibly $1 billion
or more–to ramp up production of the fossil fuel alternative.
![](images/images_06_15_2023/pic3.jpg)
Hydrogen storage tanks are visible at the Iberdrola
green hydrogen plant in Puertollano, central Spain. (AP Photo/Bernat
Armangue)
The
Pacific Northwest is in the running to receive hundreds of
millions of federal dollars to create a regional hub for the
production and distribution of “clean hydrogen,” viewed by some as a
key ingredient in the transition away from fossil fuels.
Washington’s Department of Commerce and Oregon’s Department of Energy
have leading roles in a push to secure the money, participating in the
public-private Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association. The group is
particularly keen on hydrogen production for heavy industry and in
areas like the maritime and aviation sectors.
On April 6, the association submitted its full application to a new
U.S. Department of Energy program that will award funding for the
hubs. The coalition believes it can meet an Energy Department target
of producing 50 to 100 metric tons of hydrogen daily.
The day before, Gov. Jay Inslee celebrated the application at a
Chehalis Indian reservation center at Oakdale. “We think we’re perfect
because we’re a high-tech hub,” Inslee said in an interview at that
time.
Billions of dollars in play
The Energy Department’s hydrogen hub program totals $8 billion. It was
created under the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law President Joe Biden
signed in late 2021. In this round of the program, the department
plans to award $6 billion to $7 billion for between six and 10
projects.
Seventy-nine applicants submitted concept papers pitching ideas for
the hubs. The feds encouraged 33 of them to move ahead with the full
application process–the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association among
them. The deadline for applicants to submit final proposals was April
7. And a U.S. Department of Energy spokesperson said last week that
the department expects to complete award negotiations late this year
or in early 2024.
The idea with the hubs is that they’ll eventually “form the foundation
of a national clean hydrogen network that will contribute
substantially to decarbonizing multiple sectors,” according to DOE
materials describing the program.
While there are multiple ways to produce hydrogen fuel, advocates for
cutting carbon emissions are especially interested in “green
hydrogen.” This is a variety of it made using water and sources of
electricity like solar, wind, or hydropower. The carbon footprint from
this production process can be close to zero.
Ramping up production of green hydrogen would mark a major shift.
According to a 2020 Department of Energy report, the U.S. produces
upwards of 10 million metric tons of hydrogen annually. But most of it
is made using a method that involves natural gas and only about 1%
comes from the non-carbon-emitting “electrolysis” process that yields
green hydrogen.
Washington officials see an opportunity
Inslee, a Democrat now in his third term, has made climate and
environmental issues a priority during his time in office and has
indicated that he sees hydrogen as a way to combat global warming.
On Feb. 24, the governor wrote a letter to dozens of state agencies,
utilities, and private corporations, saying that Washington had a good
chance of becoming one of the potential hubs, citing the state’s
extensive efforts combating greenhouse gasses.
“Washington has the lowest carbon intensive grid in the United
States,” Inslee wrote. “The opportunity to develop truly green
hydrogen and understand how it fits into a modern decarbonized economy
is possible today in the state of Washington.”
“No other region is as advanced in this area,” he added.
Washington officials declined to say what is specifically inside the
Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association’s roughly 1,000-page
application.
In an interview at the April 5 event, Chris Green, assistant director
of Washington’s Department of Commerce, said the secrecy is meant to
keep the proposal competitive with others and to abide by
nondisclosure agreements with companies.
Green, the association’s board chairman, said the group trimmed an
original 140 Northwest-oriented projects to “a few dozen” to shrink
the field to the most technologically advanced and financially
feasible for the application.
He also said the Northwest coalition is not centering its plan on
hydrogen cars and stations to fuel them. Instead “we want to
concentrate on the industries that are harder to decarbonize,” Green
said.
Other public and private entities involved in the Pacific Northwest
Hydrogen Association effort include the state of Montana, a number of
tribes, Tacoma Public Utilities, the Douglas County Public Utility
District, the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, several labor and hydrogen
industry organizations, the Sierra Club, BP America, Puget Sound
Energy and an Australian company with plans to build a hydrogen plant
in Lewis County.
Not all of these organizations expect to receive direct funding if the
association wins a federal award.
With the program, each hub is required to provide matching funds that
are, at minimum, 50% of the total project costs. The Energy Department
says that individual projects are expected to be in the $800 million
to $2.5 billion range and executed over eight to 12 years.
Washington’s Department of Commerce has said it anticipates private
investment materializing to meet the matching fund requirements. But
the state Legislature did allocate $2 million in potential matching
funds in 2022, plus another $20 million in 2023.
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Possible projects
Judging by participation in the April event, the Pacific Northwest
application could feature a number of projects. Some examples of these
include:
Fortescue Future Industries of East Perth, Australia, wants to build a
green hydrogen production facility on the site of a closed coal mine,
next to the TransAlta coal-fired power plant in Centralia in Lewis
County. TransAlta has the only coal-fired power plant in Washington,
scheduled to close in 2025. Fortescue declined to comment on its
plans.
The ports of Tacoma and Seattle are brainstorming developing fuel
production facilities, Green said.
The Douglas County Public Utility District in central Washington is
building a complex along the Columbia River to produce hydrogen. The
utility district said earlier this year that the plant is on track to
begin operating in 2024.
In March, Los Angeles-based Universal Hydrogen flew a hydrogen-fueled
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 regional airliner for about 15 minutes
at around 3,500 feet over an airfield in Central Washington’s Moses
Lake. Inslee cited that as a venture that the coalition wants to help
develop.
Multiple companies are involved in a testing center for hydrogen
aircraft being set up at a site in Moses Lake that will focus on
testing and certifying Universal Hydrogen’s Dash-8. Universal is
working on a conversion kit to retrofit commuter airplanes with
hydrogen-electric powertrains.
Meanwhile, an Oregon-based company, Obsidian Renewables, submitted a
separate application to the hub program. It is seeking $700 million to
build large-scale green hydrogen production and distribution
infrastructure in Washington and Oregon.
The Oregon Capital Chronicle reported in December that the company
decided to break away from the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association
effort after it couldn’t get information about what projects would be
included in the final application for funding.
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