Utilities form US Southeast coalition to compete for federal hydrogen hub funds

Several utilities and other stakeholders formed a coalition to develop a hydrogen hub spanning six Southeast U.S. states.

The coalition includes Dominion Energy Inc., Duke Energy Corp., Southern Co., the Tennessee Valley Authority, and PPL Corp. subsidiaries Louisville Gas and Electric Co. and Kentucky Utilities Co. The companies intend to respond to the U.S. Energy Department's funding opportunity, which will distribute a portion of the $8 billion allocated in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to develop several regional hydrogen hubs, according to a Nov. 1 news release.

The coalition also includes Battelle, which calls itself "the largest independent nonprofit applied science and technology organization in the world." The utilities expect potential hydrogen end users from across Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee to join the coalition.

Several multistate coalitions have already formed to compete for the funds, seeking to pool their resources and pitch their respective regions as viable centers for hydrogen production and consumption.

The Southeast Hydrogen Hub coalition said hydrogen has "immediate potential to accelerate decarbonization in the Southeast." Hydrogen can serve as an alternative transportation fuel and provide a dispatchable energy source, capable of providing backup power generation to complement the growing share of intermittent renewable power in the region's energy system.

"Hydrogen may be poised to play a major role in addressing climate change and could be essential for each coalition member to meet its stated carbon-reduction goal," the companies said.

Coalition members will work together to develop "scalable, integrated projects at key locations" to achieve their carbon reduction goals and "encourage the broad-based development of a regional energy ecosystem" that deploys hydrogen as a decarbonization solution.

Carolinas to study hydrogen potential

Also on Nov. 1, the Green Hydrogen Coalition announced the launch of HyBuild Carolinas, an initiative that will develop a vision and road map for accelerating carbon-free hydrogen deployment in North and South Carolina. The coalition defines green hydrogen as that produced using zero-carbon electric power to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.

The initiative has support from potential hydrogen consumers, renewable developers, utilities, equipment providers and infrastructure companies. It will solicit input from environmental groups, academic and research institutions, and workforce and labor organizations.

Dominion, Duke, Siemens Energy AG and Williams Cos. Inc. will financially support HyBuild Carolinas' initial work to analyze hydrogen demand and the enabling infrastructure necessary to achieve "mass-scale, low-cost green hydrogen in the Carolinas." In the future, the initiative will quantify zero-carbon hydrogen's community benefits, including pollution reduction, economic development and job creation.

Duke said its carbon-free nuclear power assets and growing portfolio of renewable energy resources can contribute to hydrogen production. Williams said it could leverage its natural gas infrastructure to transport the zero-carbon fuel.

S&P Global Commodity Insights produces content for distribution on S&P Capital IQ Pro.