There is simply no better place in the U.S. to establish a large-scale, clean hydrogen hub than Texas, according to Brett Perlman, CEO with the Center for Houston’s Future (CHF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to Houston’s longterm future.
With the state’s existing energy expertise, Texas could lead the nation in the production and end use of clean hydrogen, while driving down production costs. Perlman said that this expertise is key in driving early adoption.
"Proximity to demand is a variable to driving early adoption," Perlman said. "About 10 million tons of hydrogen are produced annually in the nation, and about 3.2 million tons are produced in the Gulf Coast region — from Freeport all the way to Lake Charles. Houston is kind of right in the bullseye of that market, so we have proximity to lots of customers who are going to help be the early adopters to drive demand."
With Texas’ unique and unmatched combination of energy infrastructure, natural resources, workforce and manufacturing assets, the state is positioning itself to lead the nation as a major supplier of clean hydrogen and as a global hydrogen export hub. Perlman envisions Texas becoming a leader not only in O&G, but in clean energy as well.
At the 2023 Carbon Capture and Technology Expo, Perlman said Texas has the capacity to go from 3.2 mmts of hydrogen production to 21 mmts by 2050 — which would put the state well above its share of the global economy.
Texas set to become global clean hydrogen hub
Brett Perlman, CEO with the Center for Houston’s Future
Perlman explained that increased hydrogen production would go toward demand from current applications such as industrial feedstock, mobility, power and heat, as well as a potential hydrogen export market.
"There’s been a ton of interest by companies around the globe from Europe to Japan and Korea, coming to Houston wanting to help us create this market in new hydrogen, and that export market could be bigger than our existing industrial market. It’s exciting to see a vision for how all this might play out over time."
To turn this vision into a reality, CHF partnered with GTI Energy and the University of Texas at Austin to create the HyVelocity Hub, a collaborative organization working to advance clean hydrogen production, according to CHF’s website. In April, the HyVelocity Hub applied for funding from the DOE’s $8 billion Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program, which would rapidly scale clean hydrogen supply and demand along the Texas Gulf Coast and Southwest Louisiana.
"We saw this opportunity with the hydrogen hub initiative that the DOE launched," Perlman said. "There’s $8 billion for somewhere between six and 10 hydrogen hubs to be built across the U.S. We worked with our friends and colleagues at Exxon, Chevron, Air Liquide, as well as Mitsubishi Power, Ørsted and Sempra to put together an application. I suspect it’s probably one of the largest, if not the largest application that the DOE received."
The DOE’s designation of a Texas clean hydrogen hub would accelerate the state’s position as a major supplier of clean hydrogen and as a global hydrogen export hub, according to Perlman.
"The idea that this market can happen in Texas is because we are the right place with all the resources to make this a reality," Perlman said. "But what we need to do as an industry is to accelerate the development. So that’s what HyVelocity is about — doing this faster, getting the cost down, getting customers engaged and really making the decision that we have for Houston being a low carbon energy leader a reality."
