When you’re competing for billions of federal dollars, you need more than a sensible approach and a strong economic case. You need a real competitive advantage. That’s what Hy Stor Energy believes it has with its proposed Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub (MCHH). It sees off-grid renewable energy and large-scale salt dome storage capacities as the surest path to decarbonization for a myriad of industrial needs. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the overall strategy behind the MCHH, the plan to produce 100% green hydrogen, and how Hy Stor hopes to beat the competition and secure Department of Energy (DOE) funding for a regional hydrogen center.
The United States has made clean hydrogen a priority, with the federal government’s Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) initiative aimed at speeding up the process, but we should note that there are a number of strong proposals and it is likely that only a handful of centers do. receive funding The DOE opened $7 billion in funding in September 2022 for the development of six to 10 regional centers. For the first stage of the center selection process, DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration (OCED), which will administer funding for the hydrogen center, required interested parties to submit concept papers on their planned projects. Of the 79 papers that were submitted, 33 were encouraged in late 2022 to submit a full application by the April 7 deadline. We were able to identify most of the projects encouraged and examined the main factors that can influence the viability of a project in the eyes of the DOE. We obtained the complete list of promoted projects a few weeks ago, which helped us understand the wide range of proposals the DOE is considering. (We are also tracking the list of projects that have submitted a complete application to the DOE. When we receive it, that will be the subject of a future blog. For the latest hydrogen news, including a map of the 33 animated projects and the ‘main organization of each, consult our weekly Hydrogen poster.)
Details on many of the projects seeking funding from the center have been scarce. The application process has been largely kept out of the public eye: concept papers were not to be released publicly, and as noted above, it has been difficult to learn much about the projects being considered . An exception that we detailed in a recent blog is the Leader in Gulf Coast Hydrogen Transition (LIGH2T) hub, which focuses on three key elements that will likely win DOE favor: development of a national hydrogen grid, the need to increase hydrogen demand, and strong community connections. Notably, one of the strengths of LIGH2T’s hub concept is its consortium of sponsors, which includes a large group of states, some key commercial partners, several universities, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This is a similarity it shares with the MCHH, which promotes collaborations with various federal agencies, national laboratories, universities, community colleges, and industry stakeholders. The center would be built and operated in partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, National Renewable Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory and Oakridge National Laboratory. Its university partners include Jackson State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Alcorn State University, in addition to several community colleges. Its equity partner is Toronto-based CC&L Infrastructure, which has invested in a number of energy projects in the Americas, including solar, hydro and wind.
Figure 1. Representation of the Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub and related infrastructure.
Source: Hy Stor Energy
