From oil to hydrogen: this is the new unlimited reserve of clean energy that Texas boasts.
If we talk about oil, we have to talk about Texas, since it is
one of the locations where the most oil is produced in the world . To do this, fracking is used, a technique in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected at high pressure into a drilled well to generate fractures that allow trapped oil or natural gas to come to the surface.
Fossil fuels are a problem when used on a large scale, as they release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. However, Texas is about to receive an unlimited supply of clean energy thanks to the Hydrogen City project , which could put oil on the back burner in the state.
Texas could become a very important producer of hydrogen
On paper, it is the most ambitious project in the world in terms of the production, storage and transportation of green hydrogen in the form of ammonia. This initiative depends on the Piedras Pintas salt dome, a geological formation in southern Texas that could be of great help to store large amounts of hydrogen.
This formation is ideal due to its impermeability, stability and constant temperature, and could become the oil of the future for Texas. And the objective of Hydrogen City is to take advantage of the state’s renewable energy sources, including solar and wind energy, to
produce green hydrogen from the electrolysis of water , a process that we already talked about with
China’s project to obtain hydrogen from seawater from the Xinghua Bay platform.
The hydrogen would be stored in a gaseous state in a salt cavern and then transported on demand through a 120-km pipeline to an ammonia plant in Corpus Christi. The project’s estimated production would be around 280,000 tons of hydrogen per year , which would generate one million tons of green ammonia ready for export to international markets, including Asia.
Behind the project is Green Hydrogen International (GHI), a Houston-based company founded in 2019 by American geologist Brian Maxwell.
Years later, Inpex Corporation, which is precisely the most important oil and gas company in Japan, joined the company, along with ABB, a Swedish-Swiss company that manufactures industrial equipment and components for the generation of electrical energy.
Construction on this project is expected to begin in 2026, although commercial production is not expected until 2029. This will involve a 2.2 GW electrolyser powered by 3.75 GW of solar and wind energy.
Piedras Pintas has a huge storage capacity. It is estimated that the salt dome could store up to 6 terawatt-hours (TWh) of energy in the long term, a major breakthrough, especially for businesses and industries that rely on ammonia.
Among the obstacles posed by this engineering challenge is the energy cost of electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen , since it is a process that cannot operate constantly with only wind turbines and solar panels.
To carry out the project, Hydrogen City will purchase electricity from Texas grid operator ERCOT during off-peak hours to offset fluctuations in solar and wind power generation . This will reduce costs and at the same time reduce demand for non-renewable energy sources. It remains to be seen whether this solution is sufficient to offset the cost of producing hydrogen and ammonia.
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
From oil to hydrogen: this is the new unlimited reserve of clean energy that Texas boasts. source
