The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Clean Energy Demonstration has encouraged a Texas consortium spearheading the development of a regional clean hydrogen hub on the US Gulf Coast to submit a full application in response to a funding opportunity designated in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Of the 79 applicants competing for part of the $7b in federal funds available to establish 6–10 regional hubs, only 33 projects were “encouraged” to move forward.

The regional clean hydrogen hubs will create networks of producers, distributors and consumers and advance infrastructure deployment and commercialisation, with an emphasis on equity and environmental justice.

“Texas has everything it needs to anchor a global leading low-carbon intensity hydrogen ecosystem in the US” Krishnamoorti, UH

The Leading in Gulf Coast Hydrogen Transition (LIGH2T) hub consists of multi-state organisation the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), the government’s National Energy Technology Laboratory and the University of Houston (UH) as the lead academic partner. Commercial partners include the UK’s Ineos, Germany’s Linde, US pipeline firm MPLX and 13 other organisations.

UH, a tier-one public research university, has put together an academic consortium of eight universities and five community colleges to work on this important project.

In addition, UH’s Center for Carbon Management in Energy (CCME), a multidisciplinary academic research centre focused on carbon management and the broad-based commercial deployment of CCUS that is fundamental for global energy sustainability, will be a major contributor to the hub.

“UH is the ‘energy university’, and it is committed to being part of the solution by sharing our research and expertise in clean energy, carbon capture, hydrogen and more,” said UH Hydrogen Program Officer Paul Doucette. “To do this right, it was important to collaborate and bring together a broad base of perspectives and complementary knowledge in several key areas to make our proposal the best it can be.

“This is especially important in areas such as environmental justice and equity, community, labour and stakeholder engagement, policy and regulation and workforce and skills development” Doucette added.

He noted the academic consortium is one of the strengths of the LIGH2T Hub proposal.

“This is not about building one particular thing, but about creating an ecosystem that provides substantial benefits to the communities it serves,” Doucette said. “This will provide new jobs, expand workforce development opportunities and greatly contribute to the local economies while enabling clean energy.”

Strong foundation

The LIGH2T hub proposal leverages existing advantages and could be a flagship for the long-term growth of clean hydrogen development and utilisation in the Gulf Coast region and the wider US, according to the SSEB.

“Texas has everything it needs to anchor a global leading low-carbon intensity hydrogen ecosystem in the US,” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice-president of energy and innovation at UH.

He listed the many advantages Texas offers—abundant natural gas supply, space for carbon storage, massive renewable energy capacity and production, abundant water supply, an established pipeline network, and an enormous industrial base at the port of Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast that will be the first adopters for the use of the produced hydrogen.

Most importantly, the Houston area has a deep and talented workforce ready to embrace the hydrogen economy.

“As a team, we are going to capitalise on all of those benefits Texas offers and continue to build on this world-class foundation,” he said.

The LIGH2T Hub partners will submit the full proposal in April to compete for the next phase of the DOE’s funding programme.

This article was previously published in Pipeline & Gas Journal.

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Author: University of Houston Energy Center