LOS ANGELES, July 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced several of its
research and development initiatives designed to enable low-cost,
clean hydrogen have been submitted to the U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE) "Earthshot" Hydrogen Program's Request for
Information (RFI). The submissions are intended to help DOE's
Hydrogen Program prioritize projects that would accelerate clean
hydrogen innovations that could reduce emissions, create jobs, and
facilitate a net-zero carbon emissions economy by 2050.
SoCalGas is working with multiple collaborators on these
initiatives, including the University of
California Irvine, University of
California Los Angeles, and the Green Hydrogen Coalition,
among others.
"Green hydrogen is a renewable energy source that can be
ready-to-go whenever it's needed for power generation,
manufacturing, or transportation," said Maryam Brown, SoCalGas President. "We believe
this flexible, storable fuel will be essential to achieving
net-zero emissions in California,
and that is why we are working collaboratively with these partners
to advance these important hydrogen projects."
SoCalGas recently announced its commitment to the goal of
achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and
delivery of energy by 2045. In doing so, SoCalGas became the
largest gas distribution utility in the nation to include scopes 1,
2, and 3 emissions in its target, aligning with the Paris
Agreement's recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5°C by
achieving net zero by mid-century.
The programs submitted to the DOE request include:
- HyDeal LA: An initiative to architect the green
hydrogen ecosystem to achieve at-scale procurement of green
hydrogen at $1.50/kg in the
Los Angeles basin by 2030.
HyDeal LA is a collaboration of green hydrogen offtakers,
developers, integrators, equipment manufacturers, investors,
environmental groups, and other advisors coalescing to overcome the
biggest barrier to the green hydrogen economy–its high cost–by
aiming to launch North America's
first green hydrogen hub at scale. HyDeal LA is targeting the
inclusion of power plants, industrial applications, hydrogen
transportation, and ultimately, global export of green hydrogen
from the ports.
- Renewable Hydrogen Ecosystem: A project at the
University of California, Irvine (UCI)
that will be designed to use hydrogen made from solar and wind
energy to create a zero-emissions energy system on the UCI campus.
If successful, this project would demonstrate a scalable solution
that could be replicated by urban communities around the world to
achieve zero emissions.
- Direct Solar Methane Conversion: A new technology
developed by researchers at the University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA)
that uses solar energy to separate the carbon and hydrogen atoms in
natural gas with zero or negative emissions, creating hydrogen and
capturing carbon in solid form, which can be used in high value
energy technology applications when commercialized.
"The Western United States has abundant renewable resources
necessary to make globally-competitive low-cost green hydrogen,"
said Janice Lin, President and
Founder of the Green Hydrogen Coalition. "By working to
simultaneously aggregate multi-sectoral demand, scale production,
and design the needed infrastructure for transport and storage,
HyDeal LA aims to make use of these renewable resources to produce
and deliver green hydrogen at scale to accelerate multi-sectoral
decarbonization in power plants, transportation, and as a feedstock
for industrial customers. HyDeal LA represents an opportunity for
the U.S. Department of Energy to promote the development of
domestic green hydrogen hubs and establish the U.S. as a leader for
this vast new emerging energy export opportunity."
"By using solar energy converted to hydrogen, we aim to create a
100% zero-carbon energy system on the UC Irvine campus," said
Jack Brouwer, director of UCI's
National Fuel Cell Research Center as well as its Advanced Power
and Energy Program. "When deployed, the system we're proposing
could be replicable at other universities, industrial campuses,
large apartment complexes, military bases, and other multi–megawatt
microgrids across the nation."
"The new clean hydrogen production technology developed by
UCLA researchers represents a
disruptive breakthrough," said Tim
Fisher, Professor and Chair of UCLA's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
department. "When commercialized, this technology could drive the
U.S. as a leader in zero carbon technology development, domestic
jobs growth, and the production of clean hydrogen at very
low-cost."
In its RFI, the DOE notes that hydrogen "enables innovations in
energy production and end uses that can help decarbonize some of
the most emissions-intensive sectors of our economy:
transportation, electricity generation, and industrial
applications, including chemicals production. Additional
decarbonization opportunities exist for low-carbon hydrogen such as
for combined heat and power (CHP) in building applications and
through blending with natural gas."
For more information on SoCalGas' mission and climate commitment
to net zero by 2045, visit www.socalgas.com/mission.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is
the largest gas distribution
utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers
affordable, reliable and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8
million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central
and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's
pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing
electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy
deployment.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest, and
most innovative energy company in America. In support of that
mission, SoCalGas is committed to its goals of
achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its
operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and replacing 20 percent
of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with
renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made
from waste created by dairy farms, landfills, and wastewater
treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its
gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for
customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE:
SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or
connect with SoCalGas
on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company