(Delta, Utah / USA) – The US company Advanced Clean Energy Storage I, LLC (ACES Delta) has big plans: electrolyzers with an output of 220 megawatts are to be built near the small town of Delta in the US state of Utah. According to the information, this could produce 100 tons of green hydrogen per day, which is stored in two huge salt caverns with a capacity of 150 gigawatt hours each. The magnitude corresponds to around 4,5 million barrels (715 million liters).
Hydrogen for power plant
The energy source then flows to the “IPP Renewed Project”. This is a hydrogen-capable gas turbine combined cycle power plant with an output of 840 megawatts, which will initially be operated with a mixture of 2025 percent green hydrogen and 30 percent natural gas from 70. According to the plan, the hydrogen share will increase to 2045 percent by 100.
The operator is the Intermountain Power Agency (IPA), an association of 23 communities in Utah. The facility provides power to IPA members, as well as six rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Burbank and Glendale.
However, none of the companies involved have yet revealed where exactly the electricity for the production of hydrogen comes from 
mentioned. On the ACES Delta website, solar and wind power plants are shown and there is talk of “renewable energies”. However, if you dig a little deeper, you will find a diagram showing a nuclear power plant as the source of electricity - and by the standards generally accepted in Europe and elsewhere, electricity from uranium is neither "green" nor "renewable". In parts of the political class in the USA, however, nuclear power is considered “clean” because there are no emissions when it is generated on site.
Consortium of corporations
ACES Delta is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. and Magnum Development LLC, a portfolio company managed by Texas-based venture capital firm Haddington Ventures, LLC. A number of well-known companies are already involved in the project.
The engineering service provider Black & Veatch Holding Co. from Kansas will build the hydrogen production facilities. The technology company Mitsubishi Power Ltd. is responsible for the electrolyzer, as well as gas separators, rectifiers, medium-voltage transformers and the control system.
The NAES Corp. takes over operation and maintenance with a team of 20. And the Canadian engineering service provider WSP Global Inc. is developing the two salt caverns into storage facilities. The site belongs to the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. The authority's rental income benefits the state's schools.
Billions of dollars in financing secured
According to information, construction can begin in June and will create up to 400 jobs in the region in the first phase over a period of three years. Afterwards, 25 full-time positions will remain for the operation, explains Mitsubishi Power.
The project is currently enjoying great popularity among both the US government and investors. According to its own information, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has now released a loan guarantee of 504,4 million dollars (471 million euros) for ACES; A “conditional financing commitment” was already granted at the end of April.
Just a few days after the commitment, Haddington Ventures announced the launch of the Haddington ESP I, LP fund. This is contributing $650 million to the financing. The investors include the Colorado investment company Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), GIC Private Limited, an authority in Singapore that manages sovereign wealth funds, the Canadian insurer and financial services provider Manulife Financial Corporation (Manulife) and the Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board.
The backers have the option to increase their combined investment to $1,5 billion. Haddington Ventures will also provide funding for the project's future growth and scalability.
Magnitude interesting for electricity suppliers
“We are incredibly pleased to have reached this important milestone, not just for our hub, but for the entire hydrogen industry,” said Michael Ducker, senior vice president of hydrogen infrastructure at Mitsubishi Power Americas and president of Advanced Clean Energy Storage I.
“The ACES Delta Hub will be 10 times larger than any existing green hydrogen production and storage facility – and that is the scale that electric utilities need,” said John Strom, Managing Director of Haddington Ventures.
Graphic above
ACES has already received more than $1 billion in investment commitments and guarantees for the Delta hydrogen project. © Rendering: Mitsubishi Power
Graphic center
The electricity for ACES' hydrogen production will come from renewable energies. However, the diagram also shows a nuclear power plant that delivers “clean” energy by US standards. © ACES Delta
