H2@scale in Texas and Beyond: Creating a Renewable Hydrogen Energy Network Demonstrating Integrated Hydrogen Production and End-use Technologies

In a H2@Scale in Texas and Beyond project, GTI Energy—along with Frontier Energy, the University of Texas-Center for Electromechanics (UT-CEM), and almost two dozen industry stakeholders and sponsors—is co-leading a project to design, build, and operate the first integrated network of renewable hydrogen production, on-site storage, and end-use technologies ever assembled at one site. The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

This "proto-hub" ecosystem, located on the UT J.J. Pickle research campus in Austin, serves as a precursor to hydrogen hub development and lays the foundation for expanding hydrogen’s role by demonstrating scalable hydrogen technologies in Texas as well as other regions. Renewable natural gas, wind, and solar will be converted to hydrogen for use in transportation and commercial applications, including UT’s data center, fuel cell drones, and a fleet of Toyota Mirai FCEVs.

GTI Energy designed and built a steam methane reformer (SMR), a critical piece of equipment for hydrogen generation that is a vital component of the H2@scale in Texas installation. The operational phase of the demonstration site is underway.

The project also resulted in the development of a hydrogen framework for the Texas and Louisiana gulf coast region, quantifying potential pathways for the growth of the hydrogen economy, and modeling the future supply, distribution, and demand of hydrogen in the region. The team assessed techno-economics, policies, and regulations to pave the way for successful implementation using UT Austin’s Hydrogen Optimization with Deployment of Infrastructure (HOwDI) model. The model determines cost-optimal hydrogen infrastructure across Texas and identifies the locations for new hydrogen production technologies as the hub expands to maximize impact.
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Studies and White Papers

The H2@Scale project is developing actionable plans and identifying near-term applications for deploying hydrogen in Texas, Port Houston, and the Gulf Coast region.

Project Team

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University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics School of Engineering logo

Partners

  • Air Liquide
  • CenterPoint Energy
  • Chart Industries
  • Chevron
  • ConocoPhillips
  • Hitachi Energy
  • Low-Carbon Resources Initiative
  • McDermott
  • Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America
  • OneH2
  • ONE Gas
  • ONEOK
  • Shell
  • SoCalGas
  • Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
  • Toyota
  • WM

Support Partners

  • Center for Houston’s Future
  • IdeaSmiths
  • Rice University Baker Institute for Public Policy

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