Agrium & Alaska LNG Project Identified As Key Components To Hydrogen Hub Proposal

Author: KSRM News Desk |

The conceivability of a re-opening of the Agrium plant in Nikiski and the construction of the Alaska LNG Project LNG facility in Nikiski, based on the two facilities abilities to produce hydrogen in quantities sufficient for a U.S. based Hydrogen Hub, was lined-out in an announcement by the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) in a statement released on November 7th.

 

The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) announced submission of a concept paper for an Alaska Hydrogen Hub to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

 

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre describes how the Alaska Hydrogen Hub would effect the Kenai Peninsula Borough;

“It would have huge impact because it presumes that the Gasline from the North Slope down is built. That is the only way they get projects off the ground. That’s certainly something we have been hoping for, for a number of years. Whether or not this particular effort comes to fruition, I don’t know enough about it yet to make that determination. I think certainly it’s a step on the right direction as to whether we see any construction starting, even that not going to take place immediately there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

 

Federal funding to create hydrogen hubs was included in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed with the support of Alaska’s Congressional Delegation and signed by President Biden, and is expected to be awarded in late 2023 or early 2024. DOE envisions selecting six to ten hydrogen hubs and awarding up to $7 billion in federal funding to support the production and delivery of clean hydrogen energy in support of U.S. emissions-reduction goals.

 

Alaska Organizations supporting the AGDC-led Alaska Hydrogen Hub include Agrium U.S., Salamatof Native Association, Alaska CCUS Consortium (including ASRC Energy Services, Santos, and Storegga), and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Alaska Center for Energy and Power.

 

According to AGDC the existing energy infrastructure located in the idle ammonia plant owned by Agrium can produce Hydrogen in the form of conventional liquid ammonia which emits no carbon dioxide when used to produce energy and is easier to store and transport than hydrogen gas.

 

Mayor Navarre discuses the impacts to the Kenai Peninsula Borough;

“Kenai Peninsula Borough will be the biggest impacted area, because we have the facility here, the gas facility will be built here and a new dock facility also, nevermind the other infrastructure. The Borough has to be involved because we’re going to be directly impacted in terms of the number of people who move here both to build the facilities and also then to work for them. We’ll be the biggest area impacted in the State, so we should get significant revenues.”

 

Alaska’s Cook Inlet, in the center of the Alaska Hydrogen Hub, has an estimated 50 gigatons of carbon sequestration capacity, the best carbon sequestration potential on the West Coast.

 

Combining Agrium with Alaska’s North Slope, AGDC believes Alaska has a number of advantages that make the region uniquely suited to host one of the new U.S. hydrogen hubs.

 

For further details on the proposal click here.