HyVelocity Hub—a US Gulf Coast hydrogen hub being organized by Chevron Corp., Sempra Infrastructure, Ørsted AS, Air Liquide SA, GTI Energy, University of Texas at Austin, and The Center for Houston’s Future, among others—has applied for funding from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) $8-billion regional clean hydrogen hubs program to rapidly scale clean hydrogen supply and demand along the Gulf Coast in Texas and southwest Louisiana.
The US Congress, in 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, authorized a program of regional clean hydrogen hubs, appropriating the funding for DOE to make awards to support at least four demonstration projects involving networks of clean hydrogen producers and consumers and the connecting infrastructure (OGJ Online, Dec. 5, 2022).
The Gulf Coast is well situated for a clean hydrogen hub, according to HyVelocity, as it already contains the world’s largest concentration of existing hydrogen production, customers, and energy infrastructure, with a network of 48 hydrogen production plants and more than 1,000 miles of dedicated hydrogen pipelines.
HyVelocity’s plans will accelerate DOE’s clean hydrogen policy goals, including its Hydrogen Shot, which seeks to decrease carbon emissions to not more than 2 kilograms of carbon per 1 kilogram of hydrogen produced, and reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade. The hub has additional support from more than 90 commercial, academic, nonprofit, and government supporters.
The HyVelocity team has collaborated with several regional hub teams to facilitate an interconnected, national framework for hydrogen production and end use. HyVelocity continues to discuss potential projects and new partnerships in Texas and the Gulf Coast region.
