The US Department of Energy is giving conditional approval for a loan of $504.4 million for a Utah project that would be one of the world’s largest industrial green hydrogen production and storage facilities, Kallanish reports.

The loan through DOE’s Loan Programs Office must still be finalised by DOE and the parties involved.

The green hydrogen hub is in Delta, Utah, about 135 miles south of Salt Lake City, and is being developed by the Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project with partners Mitsubishi Power Americas, Magnum Development LCC, ACES Delta and Haddington Ventures LLC. It would produce 100 tonnes/day of green hydrogen by converting renewable energy into hydrogen via 220-megawatts of electrolysers and the hydrogen will be stored in two massive salt caverns. The storage capacity of the caverns is about 9m barrels of hydrogen or about 300 MWh of energy.

The hydrogen will be used to help power the Intermountain Power Agency’s IPP Renewed Project, an 840 MW power plant that will burn 30% green hydrogen and 70% natural gas. It is scheduled to begin service in 2025. It could burn 100% hydrogen by 2045. The power will go to Utah and southern California. Construction is ongoing, and the companies are working to raise $650m in equity financing for the project. The project had been announced in May 2019. It is the final stages of debt and equity closing, and a ground-breaking ceremony was held earlier this spring.

“We are unbelievably excited to reach this important milestone, not just for our hub, but for the hydrogen industry as a whole,” said Michael Ducker, senior vice president of hydrogen infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power Americas and president of Advanced Clean Energy Storage.