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

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Nov 14, 2024, 7:45 AM ET

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.

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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.