Mitsubishi Power and Texas Brine have agreed to collaborate on the creation of large-scale, long-duration hydrogen storage solutions to aid decarbonization efforts in the eastern United States. Long-term hydrogen storage is a critical enabler for the transition to a carbon-free energy future.
Mitsubishi Power will be able to store hydrogen in salt caverns in strategic locations across North America as a result of this partnership. Texas Brine and its affiliates, the nation’s largest brine manufacturer, have salt locations in New York, Virginia, Texas, and Louisiana, allowing access to major load centers in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Gulf Coast.
Salt deposits are unique geological features that can be solution mined to create caverns for clean, dependable, and cost-effective bulk gas storage. For decades, hydrogen has been deposited in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Expanding the use of salt caverns for hydrogen energy storage in other areas provides a major opportunity to build a renewable energy system across the United States, benefiting industries like power, transportation, and manufacturing that are aiming for net zero carbon emissions.
The alliance would initially concentrate on Texas Brine and its affiliates’ current sites. Both companies will conduct comprehensive engineering and design studies to support hydrogen storage needs, as well as assess the potential for hydrogen storage in existing and new caverns. The companies will also look at greenfield applications such as brine and dry salt processing that can benefit from hydrogen storage.
The collaboration with Texas Brine enhances Mitsubishi Power’s developing hydrogen infrastructure:
-In 2019, Mitsubishi Power announced a joint venture with Magnum Development to develop the world’s largest renewable energy storage project, the Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project, to enable decarbonization efforts across the western U.S. This site is atop a massive salt dome in Delta, Utah, and adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project, which has transmission interconnections to major western demand centers.
-In September 2020, Mitsubishi Power announced a joint development agreement with Entergy to collaborate on bringing decarbonization projects to Entergy’s utility businesses in four states.
-Also in September, Mitsubishi Power announced that it had secured technical selections for three projects using its hydrogen-ready M501JAC gas turbines at the Danskammer Project being developed by Agate Power in Newburg, NY, the Chickahominy Power Project being developed by Balico in Virginia, and the Harrison Power Project being developed by EmberClear.
