What is being billed as the world’s largest green hydrogen storage hub has been proposed in South Texas by Green Hydrogen International.
The company said it plans to construct Hydrogen City, Texas and storage hydrogen in the salt domes of Duval County.
Hydrogen City, Texas will be an integrated green hydrogen production, storage, and transport hub growing to 60GW in size and producing over 2.5 billion kilograms of green hydrogen per year. The project is centered around a hydrogen storage facility in the Piedras Pintas Salt Dome located in Duval County.
Pipelines will deliver the green hydrogen to Corpus Christi and Brownsville where it will be turned into green ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel and other products, or delivered by pipeline directly to hydrogen power plants and other users around the state.
The project will be powered by 60GW of behind the meter solar and wind power with additional renewable energy drawn from the ERCOT grid during periods of low prices.
“Hydrogen City is a massive, world class undertaking that will put Texas on the map as a leading green hydrogen producer. Texas has been the world leader in energy innovation for over 100 years and this project is intended to cement that leadership for the next century and beyond,” says GHI’s founder and CEO Brian Maxwell.
The project will be built in phases with the first phase expected to commence operations in 2026, consisting of 2GW of production and two storage caverns at the Piedras Pintas salt dome. Access to salt storage is critical to the scaling-up of green hydrogen production as it allows for maximum utilization of electrolysers and serves as a buffer between variable wind and solar production and final delivery of green hydrogen to customers.
Eventually, over 50 caverns can be created at the Piedras Pintas salt dome, providing up to 6TWh of energy storage and turning the dome into a major green hydrogen storage hub, similar to the role Henry Hub plays in the natural gas market.