NETL will leverage its wide range of hydrogen research and development (R&D) capabilities to support a collaborative clean hydrogen production and utilization project recently awarded $20 million in federal funding by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

NETL will join a consortium led by PNW Hydrogen LLC to produce clean hydrogen from nuclear power at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Phoenix, Arizona. Six tonnes of stored hydrogen will be used to produce approximately 200 megawatt-hours of electricity during times of high demand, and may be also used to make chemicals and other fuels. The project will provide insights about integrating nuclear energy with hydrogen production technologies and inform future clean hydrogen production deployments at scale.

“We look forward to supporting this clean hydrogen project and the decarbonization pathways that it could open,” said NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D. “Our Lab has the unique facilities, and our researchers have broad expertise to help this team achieve success.”

NETL will contribute to this project through four different areas of hydrogen R&D:

• Advise consortium members on gas turbine combustion of hydrogen-natural gas fuel blends and provide an independent performance assessment of the gas turbine co-firing demonstration.
• Evaluate pipeline and distribution system component materials to assess degradation caused by blends of hydrogen and natural gas, which will lead to the identification of design selection and operational maintenance options to mitigate risk.
• Lead a Tri-Lab collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory on a joint analysis of a regional bulk power system to quantify the benefits of hydrogen production and to assess opportunities for a broader build out of hydrogen generation and use.
• Lead project partners in an assessment of potential post-demonstration fuel synthesis projects and expanded facility requirements for commercial-scale, carbon-neutral synthetic fuel production from hydrogen and carbon dioxide captured from the air or biomass-derived processes.

“For many years, NETL has researched hydrogen production, delivery and storage, with ongoing activities in fuel cell development, manufacturing, systems analysis and integration, materials, and advanced turbines,” Anderson said. “NETL expects to bring this experience, along with the talent of its researchers, to great effect throughout the project’s duration.”

The project will make progress on DOE’s H2@Scale vision for clean hydrogen across multiple sectors and help meet the Department’s Hydrogen Shot goal of $1 per 1 kilogram in one decade.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.