Session: 09-10-01: Hydrogen Production, Storage, and Integrated Hydrogen Energy Systems I

Paper Number: 173029

Multiple "Clean" Marine Fuels From a Proposed 300 Mwe Input New Project for the Pnwh2hub Driven by Deep Hot Dry Rock Geothermal (Dhdrg) Energy 

This 27 March 25 Full Application to the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub (PNWH2Hub) via CR-NPS2-RFP will produce clean "hydrogen anywhere" from ubiquitous deep hot dry rock geothermal (DHDRG) energy "anywhere", thus greatly reducing the technical and economic costs of infrastructure for moving "clean" hydrogen (H2) long distances and storing it. Rather than moving and storing gaseous H2 (GH2) and / or liquid hydrogen (LH2) via pipelines, supply is co-located at demand and firmed by DHDRG electrolysis because energy storage is free by simply leaving heat in the ground until it is needed. Furthermore, the plant we propose could deliver many valuable products from the copious clean energy it harvests on-site, to improve project economics and further reduce the delivered cost of hydrogen.
We have sized the plant to harvest and sell the diverse energy products from a 300 MWe DHDRG plant because:
a. It will probably be the optimum economic size when it is built, in about 2028;
b. We want the plant to operate near 100% capacity factor (CF);
c. A strong Pacific Northwest (PNW) and global market for diverse clean and green fuels and energy projects will emerge;
d. We expect the Alaska Cruise Green Corridor market to emerge, mature, and grow;
e. Cherry Point - Anacortes is a strategic PNW location; a 300 MWe plant should fit on many sites in that region;

f.  The DHDRG-driven multiple-clean-fuels plant will be synergistic with the nearby oil refineries, for example, in consuming their waste CO2 for "green"methanol fuel synthesis. 

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For presentation and discussion, we will assume a hypothetical plant site at Cherry Point, WA, north of Seattle. This project may be synergistic with the AltaGas Node2 project and with refineries and other industrial facilities in the Cherry Point and Anacortes areas, perhaps co-located, stacked components, on extant plant sites, in several ways:  
a. A marine fuels synthesis plant to conveniently deliver "green" methanol and / or liquid hydrogen (LH2) fuels from these near-tidewater locations to Alaska-bound cruise ships, via the ambitious Alaska Cruise Green Corridor project, at either or both Seattle and Vancouver, BC homeports; 
b. The DHDRG generation plant to supply firm, secure, clean electricity to co-located facilities without costly electricity capacity upgrades or lengthy interconnection studies;
c. The electrolysis plant to supply hydrogen for marine fuels synthesis and byproduct oxygen to co-located or nearby facilities, with potential to supply oil refineries' increasing demand for clean hydrogen for renewable diesel production and for fuels desulfurization;
d. A CO2 source for the methanol synthesis plant, which could be waste CO2 from oil refineries, procured at negative cost, i.e. as an avoided emission from oil refining;
e. The plant could supply multiple fuels from its clean H2 supply: GH2, LH2, NH3, methanol, LOHC, heat;
f. Near-tidewater location could supply as-permitted cooling water to all plant components;
g. A new bunkering dock to deliver marine fuels, sharing the waterfront with extant facilities.

We could pivot to a different Washington location, depending on outcome of PNWH2Hub-funded follow-on studies we now recommend:
We propose these modest investments by PNWH2Hub in order to fully achieve all items in the Full Application's Attachment 4b: Go/No-Go Tables, and to evaluate and prepare for project launch and success, with or without DOE funding in short or long term:
a. Planning grant whereby NDA's and LOI's are executed with potential JV partners and facility owners in the likely geographies of interest, to investigate potential collaboration and finance;
b. Engineering appraisal of likely commercialization trajectory for DHDRG technical & economic capability, worldwide; of multiple potential synergies via co-location and over-the-fence product pricing; of methanol synthesis plant tolerance for production ramping or need for steady H2 and CO2 supplies;
c. Geologic appraisal of regions of superior DHDRG thermal energy harvest, at lower cost, in the PNW proximity;
d. Market survey of likely demand vs time, years, for the several deliverable energy products listed above;
e. Value of the electricity grid as a backstop customer to achieve high capacity factor (CF) on the DHDRG plant firm output; does Washington allow variable-time-rate pricing; could this plant sell into the California market via the Pacific DC Intertie (PDCI) or in another way;
f. Roadmap for 50% CAPEX reduction for turnkey DHDRG systems > 300 MWe input, within ten years; requires continued RD&D and successful in-field pilot plant scale-ups by both DOE and industry;
g. New, comprehensive project proposal based on the above, for more broad and serious consideration.

Estimated total project CAPEX is $ 1,276 million, including 20% contingency; tentative estimate of DOE, PNWH2Hub request is $ 161 million. We expect the plant to be profitable soon after commissioning, sometime in 2029 or beyond. We cannot predict how maturation, construction, and operation of this plant will correspond with PNWH2Hub's intended phasing, through 2032.
We expect project profitability soon after commissioning; key factors will be:
 DHDRG plant LTCOE
 Plant site synergies with adjacent energy plants
 Regional and global markets for diverse green and clean fuels and surplus plant electricity, if any; broadening markets to include aviation fuels (SAF, GH2, LH2)
 Plant growth potential: DHDRG expansion; fuels export infrastructure, both marine and land-based

Although DOE funding for the PNWH2Hub is uncertain, DOE Secretary Wright has expressed his enthusiasm for DHDRG "clean" energy production, as both enhanced geothermal systems (EGS, requiring at-depth heat exchanger construction by "fracking" ) and as advanced geothermal systems (AGS, requiring at-depth heat exchanger construction by boring). Private enterprise funding may replace DOE funding. 

 

Presenting Author: William Leighty Alaska Applied Sciences, Inc.

Presenting Author Biography: BS Electrical Engineering, Stanford, 1965
MBA, Stanford, 1971
Contract Budget Analyst, State of Alaska, 1971 - 75
Proprietor, several companies, 1975 - 1990
Director, The Leighty Foundation, 1985 - present: www.LeightyFoundation.org/Earth.php
Principal and co-founder, Alaska Applied Sciences, Inc., 1990 - present: www.AlaskaAppliedSciences.com

Authors:

William Leighty Alaska Applied Sciences, Inc.