SoCalGas, GKN Hydrogen and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Begin Innovative Solid State Hydrogen Storage Demonstration Project

Rhea-AI Summary

SoCalGas, GKN Hydrogen, and NREL have launched a demonstration project to test an innovative solid-state hydrogen storage solution at NREL's Flatirons Campus in Arvada, Colorado. The system can store up to 500 kilograms of hydrogen in metal hydrides at low pressure, using renewable energy to convert water into hydrogen through an electrolyzer. The project, funded with $1.7 million from the DOE and $400,000 from SoCalGas, will run until December 2026. The technology aims to support clean energy systems and accelerate decarbonization by enabling resilient, on-site renewable power generation and storage.

Positive

• Secured $2.1 million in total funding for the demonstration project
• Technology capable of storing 500kg of hydrogen in solid state
• Low-pressure storage system potentially offering safety and maintenance cost benefits

Negative

• None.

Insights

Energy Technology Expert

This hydrogen storage demonstration represents a significant technological advancement in renewable energy infrastructure. The 500kg solid-state storage system using metal hydrides offers key advantages over traditional compressed gas storage, including enhanced safety and smaller footprint. The $1.7 million DOE funding plus $400,000 from SoCalGas indicates strong institutional backing.

The project's integration with NREL's ARIES platform provides a robust testing environment for validating commercial applications. The low-pressure storage solution addresses critical infrastructure challenges in hydrogen deployment, potentially reducing operational costs and complexity compared to high-pressure systems. This could accelerate adoption in industrial and utility-scale applications, particularly for long-duration energy storage needs.

Market Research Analyst

This collaboration positions SoCalGas strategically in the growing hydrogen infrastructure market. The project's focus on commercial use cases and system integration demonstrates a clear path to monetization. The timing aligns with increasing policy support for clean hydrogen initiatives and growing market demand for long-duration energy storage solutions.

The partnership with NREL and GKN Hydrogen enhances SoCalGas' competitive position in the energy transition landscape. The three-year project timeline through 2026 provides sufficient duration to develop viable commercial applications. Success could lead to significant market opportunities in industrial decarbonization and microgrid applications, potentially creating new revenue streams for SoCalGas.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and GKN Hydrogen today announced the commissioning of a research demonstration project with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on an innovative clean renewable hydrogen storage solution. The project, which will be located at NREL's Flatirons Campus in Arvada, Colo., uses GKN Hydrogen's storage technology to store hydrogen in a solid state (metal hydrides) compared to traditional gaseous storage tanks. The demonstration aims to evaluate the technology's performance and integration with clean energy systems, such as microgrids or fuel cells. The project also aims to identify the most beneficial uses of solid-state storage of clean renewable hydrogen. At scale, this technology could help accelerate the transition to a net-zero emissions economy by increasing the availability of resilient, on-site renewable power generation and storage.

"This demonstration project highlights how surplus renewable energy can be used to create and store clean renewable hydrogen to help sustainably meet our country's growing energy demands," said Jawaad Malik, chief strategy and sustainability officer at SoCalGas. "Continued advances in long duration storage technologies could play a crucial role in supporting on-site clean energy systems and offer an additional path to help accelerate the decarbonization of hard to electrify industries."

The demonstration project will use renewable energy sources like solar and wind to convert water into clean renewable hydrogen through an electrolyzer. Up to 500 kilograms of hydrogen can be stored in GKN Hydrogen's storage system in a solid state by binding the molecules in a metal hydride at low pressure without the need for compression. The hydrogen can then be used in an on-site fuel cell to create zero-emissions electricity. 

"We believe that hydrogen has the potential to revolutionize the energy sector, and our solutions are designed to make this transition as seamless as possible," said Jim Petrecky, chief operating officer at GKN Hydrogen. "Our storage systems promise significant potential benefits in the areas of safety, footprint, and operational and maintenance costs. Evaluating commercial use cases will be key to identifying deployment strategies as the hydrogen economy continues to scale up and production costs continue to fall."

Utilizing NREL's Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) platform, researchers aim to validate a variety of commercial and industrial decarbonization applications. The exact use case depends on the system's integration, which could include solar, electrolyzers, battery storage and fuel cells with distribution equipment.

"The ARIES platform and infrastructure in Colorado aims to help accelerate the deployment of innovative energy technologies related to renewable energy, storage solutions and interactive loads. By integrating GKN Hydrogen's storage solution and collaborating with major utilities like SoCalGas, we are developing solutions to tackle the complexities of modern energy systems," said Katherine Hurst, NREL's principal investigator for the project. "This project will be the world's largest hydrogen storage system connected to renewable energy, and the findings could be integral to advancing the interoperability of hydrogen technologies and renewable energies at scale."

The U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office provided $1.7 million in funding to NREL to deploy GKN Hydrogen's innovative hydrogen storage subsystem. SoCalGas provided $400,000 of research, development and demonstration funding to the project and will help identify potential commercial use cases. The project is scheduled to run until December 2026.

Click to learn more about SoCalGas' Research Development and Demonstration program, GKN Hydrogen's storage solution and NREL's ARIES program.

About SoCalGas

SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States serving approximately 21 million consumers across approximately 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest, and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America. SoCalGas aims to deliver affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service through its pipelines to help advance California's clean energy transition by supporting energy system reliability and resiliency and enabling the integration of renewable resources. SoCalGas is a recognized leader in its industry and community, as demonstrated by being named one of Reuters' Top 100 Innovators Leading the Global Energy Transition and Corporate Member of the Year by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), a leading North American energy infrastructure company. For more information, visit SoCalGas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on social media @SoCalGas. 

About GKN Hydrogen

GKN Hydrogen produces solid state hydrogen storage systems, based on metal hydrides, and integrated energy storage solutions leveraging this technology.  They focus on applications where simple configurations and maximum safety are paramount to value and where byproduct heat enhances the commercial offering by simplifying the site, eliminating compression, and optimizing efficiency. GKN Hydrogen is wholly owned subsidiary of the multi-disciplined global UK engineering and industrial group, Langley Holdings plc and is part of Langley Holdings' Power Solutions division.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "contemplate," "plan," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "envision," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process," "construct," "develop," "opportunity," "preliminary," "initiative," "target," "outlook," "optimistic," "poised," "positioned," "maintain," "continue," "progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations.

Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include: decisions, audits, investigations, inquiries, regulations, denials or revocations of permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions, including the failure to honor contracts and commitments, by the (i) California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other regulatory bodies and (ii) U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein where we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks related to (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, (iii) obtaining third-party consents and approvals and (iv) third parties honoring their contracts and commitments; macroeconomic trends or other factors that could change our capital expenditure plans and their potential impact on rate base or other growth; litigation, arbitration and other proceedings, and changes (i) to laws and regulations, including those related to tax and trade policy and (ii) due to the results of elections; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third parties with which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other energy infrastructure; the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of capital resources and our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook, (ii) instability in the capital markets, or (iii) fluctuating interest rates and inflation; the impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and (ii) the cost of meeting the demand for lower carbon and reliable energy in California; the impact of climate policies, laws, rules, regulations, trends and required disclosures, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies, the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and uncertainty related to emerging technologies; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events, such as work stoppages, that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or limitations on the injection and withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.

Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.

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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company

FAQ

What is the storage capacity of GKN Hydrogen's storage system in the SoCalGas demonstration project?

The storage system can store up to 500 kilograms of hydrogen in a solid state using metal hydrides at low pressure.

How much funding did SoCalGas (SOCGP) provide for the hydrogen storage demonstration project?

SoCalGas provided $400,000 in research, development and demonstration funding for the project.

When will the SoCalGas (SOCGP) and GKN Hydrogen demonstration project end?

The project is scheduled to run until December 2026.

Where is the SoCalGas (SOCGP) and GKN Hydrogen storage demonstration project located?

The project is located at NREL's Flatirons Campus in Arvada, Colorado.