Texas Will be a Green Hydrogen Hub

By Paolo von Schirach

December 13, 2024 – When most people think of Texas, they think of old western movies. They envision vast open spaces, huge cattle ranches, cowboys, and plenty of oil rigs and refineries. Those who are more up to date can also picture many LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) terminals on the Texas coast filling tankers that deliver massive quantities of U.S. LNG all over the world –in particular to energy hungry Europe in support of its major effort to end dependence on Russian piped gas.

Texas is a renewable energy hub

Well, all this is true. But it is also true that Texas –the oil and gas hub of America– has a vast renewable energy sector. Solar and wind facilities are everywhere. Indeed, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Texas currently produces the greenest energy in the United States, primarily due to its leading position in wind power generation. Texas generates roughly a quarter of all U.S. wind-powered electricity. Texas’ renewable sources provided almost three-tenths of total state electricity net generation in Texas in 2023. The state accounted for about 16% of America’s total electricity generation from renewable sources.

Bright green hydrogen future

Because of this large renewables’ footprint, Texas is perfectly suited to becoming a green hydrogen production hub. According to PR Newswire “Green Hydrogen International (GHI) has unveiled plans to create the world’s largest green hydrogen production and storage hub in South Texas.”

According to GHI, “Hydrogen City, Texas is an integrated green hydrogen production, storage, and transport hub located in South Texas centered around the Peidras Pintas Salt Dome. Hydrogen City’s abundance of clean, green fuel means Texas energy will power the next great chapter of human development. GHI is the future of fuel, and Texas is our home.”

Texas’ large renewable energy base will provide the power to obtain green hydrogen from water. The hydrogen will be used as green fuel. Unlike electricity produced by wind and solar hydrogen can be stored for future use. Hydrogen City will produce 280,000 Tonnes of green hydrogen per year.

Brian Maxwell, GHI’s founder and CEO, with some bombast, stated that “Hydrogen City is a massive, world class undertaking that will put Texas on the map as a leading green hydrogen producer. Texas has been the world leader in energy innovation for over 100 years and this project is intended to cement that leadership for the next century and beyond,”

Additional sources of emissions free energy are needed

All this is well and good. It is wonderful that Texas will continue to play a significant role in new forms of commercially viable energy. It is especially important that this will be emissions free, green energy. However, all experts agree that for quite a few years the growth of the green hydrogen sector, in Texas and worldwide, while significant, will not be spectacular.

In other words, it will take a multipronged, broad effort to finally be able to phase out carbon-based energy. Texas may well lead the way in the U.S. for green hydrogen, and maybe other renewables. Still, these efforts must be combined with other forms of emissions free energy –primarily nuclear power– in order to obtain the volumes necessary to fuel the vast American economy with green energy.

Paolo von Schirach is the President of the Global Policy Institute, a Washington DC think tank, and Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bay Atlantic University, also in Washington, DC. He is also the Editor of the Schirach Report.

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