The original title was too long for HN. It was originally "DOE closes on $504M loan guarantee for Utah hydrogen storage project with 150 GWh seasonal capacity."
At 150,000 megawatt hours of storage capacity, this underground hydrogen storage project dwarfs recent utility scale battery projects and will demonstrate long term, high capacity storage for renewable energy. Seasonal energy storage projects like this can store surplus renewable energy generated in "shoulder season" periods to meet the higher energy demands of the summer cooling season or winter heating season.
From the article:
Using 220 MW of electrolyzers, the ACES project aims to convert excess renewable energy to be delivered by the power plant owners into hydrogen, which will be stored in two salt caverns.
The project will be able to store months worth of solar and wind overproduction in the Western U.S. and help shift that electricity into seasons when there would otherwise be energy shortfalls, said Michael Ducker, senior vice president of Hydrogen Infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power Americas and president of Advanced Clean Energy Storage I, the company behind the project.
...
The project will be able to store 150 GWh worth of hydrogen, or about the same amount of battery storage DOE expects will be on the U.S. grid in 2030, according to Shah.
“This level of storage is consistent with the amount of seasonal storage the National Renewable Energy Laboratory research found is needed to decarbonize electric utilities in the western United States by 2035,” Shah said Wednesday.
At 150,000 megawatt hours of storage capacity, this underground hydrogen storage project dwarfs recent utility scale battery projects and will demonstrate long term, high capacity storage for renewable energy. Seasonal energy storage projects like this can store surplus renewable energy generated in "shoulder season" periods to meet the higher energy demands of the summer cooling season or winter heating season.
From the article:
Using 220 MW of electrolyzers, the ACES project aims to convert excess renewable energy to be delivered by the power plant owners into hydrogen, which will be stored in two salt caverns.
The project will be able to store months worth of solar and wind overproduction in the Western U.S. and help shift that electricity into seasons when there would otherwise be energy shortfalls, said Michael Ducker, senior vice president of Hydrogen Infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power Americas and president of Advanced Clean Energy Storage I, the company behind the project.
...
The project will be able to store 150 GWh worth of hydrogen, or about the same amount of battery storage DOE expects will be on the U.S. grid in 2030, according to Shah.
“This level of storage is consistent with the amount of seasonal storage the National Renewable Energy Laboratory research found is needed to decarbonize electric utilities in the western United States by 2035,” Shah said Wednesday.