seeing green

Automation company signs on to power up $10 billion hydrogen project in South Texas

ABB plans to collaborate with Houston-based Green Hydrogen International on the Hydrogen City project. Photo via Getty Images

Electrification and automation company ABB, whose U.S. headquarters for its Energy Industries business is in Houston, has tentatively agreed to supply power for a $10 billion hydrogen project in South Texas.

Under a new memorandum of understanding, ABB plans to collaborate with Houston-based Green Hydrogen International on the Hydrogen City project. The first phase of the project is expected to generate 280,000 tons of green hydrogen per year. This green hydrogen will then be converted to one million tons of green ammonia each year.

“Together, we will enable efforts to decarbonize global industry and progress towards a net-zero future,” Brandon Spencer, president of ABB Energy Industries, says in a news release.

The memorandum of understanding calls for ABB’s technology to be assessed for delivery of solar and onshore wind energy to the 2.2-gigawatt electrolyzer facility at Hydrogen City.

The project will store up to 24,000 tons of green hydrogen in underground salt caverns. A 75-mile pipeline to the nearby Corpus Christi energy port will carry the green hydrogen to an ammonia production facility. At this facility, green hydrogen will be turned into green ammonia that’ll be shipped to Europe and Asia.

Green Hydrogen International is in talks with companies interested in using green hydrogen from Hydrogen City as feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel and e-methane.

Hydrogen City will serve a global green ammonia market whose value is projected to reach $17.9 billion by 2030. Construction on Hydrogen City is scheduled to start in 2026, with initial production set for 2030.

Green Hydrogen International unveiled the multiphase Hydrogen City project in 2022, saying it would be “the world’s largest green hydrogen production and storage hub.” At his month’s CERAWeek in Houston, officials provided an update on Hydrogen City.

“Ammonia has the potential to support decarbonization efforts as part of the energy transition through its use as an alternative fuel for heavy transport such as shipping, as well as its current major use in fertilizer production,” ABB says in the news release.

Last October, Green Hydrogen International announced a Hydrogen City partnership with Japanese oil and gas giant Inpex, whose U.S. outpost is in Houston.

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A View From HETI

Oregon-based nuclear technology company NuScale Power is moving into CityCentre. Photo courtesy of Midway

The nuclear energy renaissance continues in Texas with an announcement by NuScale Power. The Oregon-based provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology announced in April it would be opening office space in Houston’s CityCentre.

“Opening this space in Houston underscores our commitment to meeting rising energy demand with safe, scalable nuclear technology,” John Hopkins, NuScale president and CEO, said in a news release. “This move expands our presence in a key market for partners, prospective customers, and stakeholders in addition to positioning us for the future as we focus on the near-term deployment of our industry-leading technology. Texas is leading the way in embracing advanced nuclear for grid resilience and industrial decarbonization, and we’re proud to expand our footprint and capabilities in this important region.”

Interest in nuclear power has been growing in recent years thanks to tensions with oil-rich nations, concerns about man-made climate change from fossil fuels, and the rapidly increasing power needs of data centers. Both Dow and Texas A&M University have announced expanded nuclear power projects in the last year, with an eye of changing the face of Texas’s energy industry through smaller, safer fission reactors.

Enter NuScale, founded in 2007 from technology developed at the University of Oregon. Their modular SMR technology generates 77 megawatts and is one of the only small modular reactors (SMR) to receive design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). These advances have led to runaway success for NuScale, whose stock has risen by more than 1,670 percent since the start of 2024.

The new operations campus in CityCentre is expected to facilitate the movement, installation and coordination of NuScale technology into the various energy systems. Typically, SMRs are used for off-grid installations, desalination operations, mining facilities and similar areas that lack infrastructure. However, the modularity means that they can be easily deployed to a variety of areas.

It comes none too soon. ERCOT projects that Texas data centers alone will require 77,965 megawatts by 2030.

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