Washington’s first industrial-scale green hydrogen production facility has fallen an additional six months behind its original start date.
The facility near East Wenatchee on the Columbia River in Central Washington was originally set to go online in late 2021. (See Wash. PUD Breaks Ground on Hydrogen Plant.) Supply chain and COVID matters delayed startup to the end of this year or early 2023. Now the plant is expected to commence operation in the summer of 2023, Douglas County Public Utility District spokeswoman Meaghan Vibbert told NetZero Insider in an email.
“We had the usual COVID supply chain issues, bids coming in more than anticipated, and more recently, we have changed course in building design. We had purchased a metal building, but the energy code and safety requirements influenced us to change to a concrete structure, which is slated to go out to bid late this month,” Vibbert wrote.
The project has been working with a roughly $25 million budget, up from an earlier $20 million estimate. Its goal is to produce two tons of hydrogen a day.
The Wells Dam, about 50 miles upstream of East Wenatchee, is the primary power-generating resource for Douglas County PUD. Excess power and water from the dam will eventually be sent to the new hydrogen plant to produce green hydrogen fuel via electrolyzers, which separate the oxygen and hydrogen molecules in water.
While the Douglas PUD has been in talks with several potential customers, no contracts have been signed yet, Vibbert wrote.
Besides providing hydrogen for vehicle fueling stations still in the birthing stage, the plant’s potential future contracts will likely include the steel and ammonia industries. The PUD recently bought an extra 90 acres next to the plant’s 40-acre site to prepare for future expansion if needed.
Washington is seeking to become host to one of four to eight national hydrogen hubs to be funded by $8 billion in U.S. Department of Energy grants. Gov. Jay Inslee and the state’s Department of Commerce have been working this year to coordinate the state’s activities around winning the DOE funding. State lawmakers in March overwhelmingly passed a bill to create a new office to support the development of green hydrogen and other alternative fuels. (See Wash. Looks to Boost Prospects for Winning Hydrogen Hub.)