Air Products and The AES Corporation have invested approximately $4 billion to build, own and operate a green hydrogen production facility in Wilbarger County, Texas. The facility is a mega-scale renewable power to hydrogen project and includes approximately 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power generation, along with electrolyzer capacity capable of producing over 200 metric tons per day (MT/D) of green hydrogen. Electric Power Engineers is currently supporting AES by preparing multiple interconnection applications for wind and solar generation, as well as for the energy storage phase. The new facility will be the largest green hydrogen facility in the U.S. to utilize wind and solar energy.
The facility is targeted to begin commercial operations in 2027. It will create more than 1,300 construction jobs, 115 permanent operations jobs, and about 200 transportation and distribution jobs. Over the course of its lifetime, it is expected to generate approximately $500 million in tax benefits to the state, while extending Texas’ energy leadership. The project will yield a completely clean source of energy on a massive scale and has the potential to eliminate more than 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually compared to diesel use in heavy-duty trucks. Over its lifetime, the project is expected to save more than 50 million metric tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of avoiding emissions from nearly five billion gallons of diesel fuel.
“We are very pleased to announce this exciting joint venture with AES, which is one of the leading renewable energy companies in America. The new facility in Texas will be, by far, the largest mega-scale clean hydrogen production facility in the U.S. to use wind and sun as energy sources. We have been working on the development of this project with AES for many years and it will be competitive on a world-scale while bringing significant tax, job and energy security benefits to Texas. We are excited to move forward and make clean green hydrogen available to U.S. customers in the near future,” said Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.
AES President and Chief Executive Officer Andrés Gluski stated, “This project will capitalize on AES’ position as one of the nation’s largest renewable energy developers and its global leadership in innovations such as energy storage systems and supplying around the clock clean energy to data centers. We are very pleased to partner with the world leader in hydrogen, Air Products, for this first of its kind mega-scale green hydrogen facility in the United States. We will build more than 1 GW of new solar and wind facilities to provide zero carbon energy for electrolysis and related production facilities. AES believes that green hydrogen has a key role to play in decarbonizing transportation and accelerating the future of energy.”
Demand for green hydrogen for mobility and industrial applications is expected to grow exponentially across the United States over the next decade. The growth in demand is supported by green hydrogen’s role in net-zero ambitions announced by several states and major corporations.
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