GTI advances Gulf Coast clean hydrogen hub project
GTI Energy said November 10 it is leading a multi-partner consortium in the development of the HyVelocity Hub and has applied to the US Department of Energy’s Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub financing program.
Under the financing program, the DoE will provide up to $7bn to support the creation of six to 10 regional clean hydrogen hubs across the US. It is part of a wider $8bn hydrogen hub support program under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“The name ‘HyVelocity’ conveys the idea that we have a tremendous opportunity to accelerate the creation of a clean hydrogen market at the pace needed to meet aggressive decarbonisation goals for communities in our nation and around the globe,” GTI CEO Paula Gant said. “We need hydrogen deployment at scale, and this hub will lay the foundation with complete end-to-end demonstrations of an integrated network, match supply and demand regionally or locally, and leverage existing infrastructure to deliver resilient, reliable, and sustainable clean energy.”
Leadership of the HyVelocity Hub includes GTI, the Center for Houston’s Energy and the University of Texas at Austin, while project partners include US majors Chevron and ExxonMobil, global major Shell, industrial gases leader Air Liquide, Danish clean energy multinational Orsted and Sempra Infrastructure.
The HyVelocity Hub will leverage extensive hydrogen production and pipeline infrastructure along the US Gulf Coast, primarily in southwestern Louisiana and Texas, which produces 3.5mn metric tons/year of hydrogen from 48 hydrogen production plants. The hydrogen is moved through a dedicated pipeline system spanning more than 1,000 miles.
The Gulf Coast is also home to substantial carbon sequestration capacity, a key component of the HyVeolicity Hub plan that targets a hydrogen production mix of 60% blue hydrogen, using natural gas and incorporation carbon capture and storage (CCS), and 40% green hydrogen, utilising extensive renewable power generation capacity in Texas.
Industry participants in HyVelocity Hub have proposed various projects that together would produce 9,000 mt/day of clean hydrogen. Additional projects will be evaluated for inclusion in the Hub as the DoE funding process advances, GTI said.