A power utility has secured $231m to produce green hydrogen from wastewater and solar power under a new energy storage and generation project in rural New Mexico.
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC) said it would be using the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop 104MW of power production from green hydrogen and solar with battery energy storage systems (BESS).
The firm plans to produce green hydrogen from repurposed wastewater from a former mining site in the village of Questa and create energy storage technology that could last up to 16 hours.
Hydrogen produced through electrolysis will be stored and converted back to electricity when solar and battery storage cannot meet local power demands.
Hoped to enhance system reliability, KCEC has said the project “aims to reduce climate pollution by nearly 98,000 tonnes each year.”
The funding announcement comes as a key part of the co-op’s plans to reinforce grid stability while reducing carbon emissions in rural areas.
In 2022, KCEC generated 100% of its daytime electricity from solar, from its 41MW of solar resources.
“This innovative project is equal parts bold and achievable,” claimed KCEC CEO Luis Reyes Jr.
“By repurposing reclaimed water from a closed mine for green hydrogen generation, we are providing our member-owners a way to control a brighter future for an area in need of economic development within a state laser-focused on sustainable and reliable energy solutions.”
The real-world challenges of hydrogen microgrids
© Horizon Power | Denham Hydrogen Demonstration Project
This summer, Western Australian (WA) state-owned power firm Horizon Power released a knowledge-sharing report from its Denham Hydrogen Demonstration Project – a hydrogen microgrid located in the town of Denham, some 800km north of Perth.
Microgrids, by nature, are self-sufficient, localised energy systems, which could offer a robust energy supply for those affected by increasingly intermittent and politicised energy grids. Hydrogen can be used in these microgrid systems as a storage medium. While batteries have their use cases, long-term storage requires an alternative solution.
Hydrogen’s role in microgrids has been steadily building, although often overshadowed by the giga-scale production project announcements and policy debates. From military and industrial uses to community power and large-scale energy storage, projects across the world are trying to showcase how the technologies could play a role in securing sustainability and resilience…
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