After Years of Discussion, Moves Are Being to Make Hydrogen the Primary Clean Energy Source

PENN VALLEY, PA, US, February 10, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- For nearly two decades, the world’s most abundant element has been looked upon as the “fuel of the future.”

The only problem has been, despite all its positives, the use of hydrogen for transportation, power generation, etc., has remained “in the future.”

Now it appears hydrogen’s future really is now. With numerous hydrogen-related projects underway or on the proverbial drawing board worldwide, two U.S. projects, in eastern Ohio and central Utah, are garnering tremendous interest.

A natural gas-fired power plant developer in Hannibal, Ohio, plans to provide power provided initially from hydrogen to customers as early as this fall.
And Japan’s Mitsubishi is leading a project to develop what could be the world’s largest energy storage project. The venture will use salt caverns owned by Magnum Development, located in central Utah, near the town of Delta, to hold roughly 40 Bcf of hydrogen.

Mike Tritt says there’s nothing unique about hydrogen storage, that said storage has been around for 50 to 60 years. Six storage caverns, three in the U.S. and three in the UK, already hold hydrogen.

“Hydrogen storage is operated like traditional natural gas storage,” said Tritt, President of Lane Power & Energy Solutions Inc.
Tritt is a featured speaker at the First Annual Appalachian Hydrogen & Carbon Capture Conference, slated for April 8, at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe, south of Pittsburgh.

“The panel that Mike has ensembled for the conference will provide the most up-to-date information about hydrogen underground storage,” commented Joe Barone, President and Founder, Shale Directories who is producing the conference in partnership with TopLine Analytics.

Lane provides feasibility studies, consulting, permitting, conceptual design development, design, construction, project, and drilling management. Basically, any project including a cavern component.

Tritt said both referenced projects will use salt domes for storing hydrogen, the ideal substance for said storage.
“A cavern can be 300 feet in diameter, 2,000 to 3,000 feet high, and take two to three years to fully develop,” according to Tritt. “Salt allows for extremely large storage capacity.”

Long Ridge Energy’s 485-megawatt Long Ridge Energy Terminal will start burning 5% hydrogen with natural gas when it goes online this fall. The goal is to have the $600 million plant running on all hydrogen by the end of the decade.

Initially, the hydrogen won't be carbon-free, as it will come from a nearby industrial plant that produces it as a byproduct. Other ingredients the new plant needs, including water from the nearby Ohio River and large-scale hydrogen storage in underground salt domes beneath the plant site, stand ready.
Long Ridge will use General Electric gas turbines, which can burn 15% to 20% hydrogen by volume initially, and up to 100% with modifications.

Japan’s Mitsubishi is leading a project to develop what it claims will be the world’s largest energy storage project. The venture will use salt caverns owned by Magnum Development, located in central Utah, near the town of Delta, to hold roughly 40 Bcf of hydrogen.

Hydrogen storage is part of a broader strategy by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS). The company has developed a gas turbine for power plants that can operate on a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen, and eventually using exclusively hydrogen.

One of the reasons hydrogen remains on the cusp of going mainstream is the cost of producing so-called green, carbon-free hydrogen. Tritt said he has no doubt technology will evolve and bring down the cost of hydrogen production. And Lane Power will be bidding on future projects – no doubt – Tritt added.
In addition to Tritt, the Appalachian Hydrogen & Carbon Capture Conference will have speakers who are deeply involved in making hydrogen’s future now.

Joe Barone
Shale Directories
+1 610-764-1232
jbarone@shaledirectories.com