Washington, Oregon team up on Pacific Northwest hydrogen hub proposal

Oregon and Washington are teaming up on a hydrogen hub proposal, an Oregon state official said Aug. 11, adding the Pacific Northwest to the list of regions bidding for federal funding.

The bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021 provided $8 billion to the U.S. Energy Department for the development of at least four regional hydrogen hubs, or local economies supporting the clean-burning fuel. Nearly two dozen state or corporate coalitions have declared their intent to apply for the funding.

While Washington and Oregon have made no secret of their interest in hydrogen, some officials are holding their cards close to their chest.

"Everyone expects this to be a very competitive funding opportunity, so I am limited in what I can say about what's going on in Oregon," Rebecca Smith, senior policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Energy, said in an Aug. 11 webinar hosted by the National Association of State Energy Officials. "But what I can say is that Oregon is collaborating with Washington state on a Pacific Northwest hub concept."

Strength in numbers

In June, the DOE issued a notice of intent to launch the funding program in September or October, at which point applicants may submit plans for a hydrogen hub concept.

Some states had already publicized their intentions to collaborate. The governors of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming signed an agreement in February to work together on a Western Inter-States Hydrogen Hub and vie for the DOE funding as one project. Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma followed suit a few weeks later, announcing the formation of the HALO Hydrogen Hub. The two state coalitions expect to produce both green and blue hydrogen.

In March, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that New York would partner with New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut in developing a green hydrogen hub backed by nearly 40 businesses, universities and other partner organizations.

A Pacific Northwest concept

The governments of Washington and Oregon have separately expressed interest in building a regional hydrogen hub. The Washington State Department of Commerce in June requested information on potential hydrogen projects. The agency has tasked the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association, a public-private nonprofit, with coordinating a regional bid for federal funding.

The Oregon Department of Energy has teamed up with the state's business development agency, Business Oregon, to convene hydrogen stakeholders, Smith said.

Several private-sector initiatives have also sprung up in the Pacific Northwest. A subsidiary of Australia's Fortescue Future Industries Pty. Ltd. signed an agreement in May to consider converting a former coal mine in Centralia, Wash., to a green hydrogen plant.

Another energy developer, Obsidian Renewables LLC, is in the planning stages for a hub anchored by a green hydrogen electrolyzer facility in northeastern Oregon with distribution stretching into Washington and Idaho.

Ken Dragoon, Obsidian's director of hydrogen development, said the company plans to become part of a regional effort to secure DOE funding. The federal government has "made very clear they don't want to see multiple proposals from specific regions," said Dragoon, who is a member of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association's advisory committee.

One advantage of linking Oregon and Washington, according to Smith, is that their energy infrastructure is already integrated. The states share the Columbia River as both a border and an energy source.

"Generally speaking, our generation mix is highly renewable," Smith said. "We've got a lot of hydro; a number of those legacy hydropower facilities provide power in both Oregon and Washington."

But when it comes to mobilizing hydrogen stakeholders, Oregon has some catching up to do.

"We've seen in Washington state [that] their hydrogen stakeholders are much more organized than we are in Oregon," Smith said. "They all know each other, to a certain degree, and how they might fit in with one another on a project. Our goal is to try to reach that same level of organization in Oregon."

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