Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Magnum Development today
joined The Honorable Gary Herbert, Governor of Utah, to announce an
initiative to launch the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in
central Utah. In the world’s largest project of its kind, the ACES
initiative will develop 1,000 megawatts of 100 percent clean energy
storage, thereby deploying technologies and strategies essential to a
decarbonized future for the power grid of the Western United States.
According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, carbon emissions
from the U.S. power sector have dropped 30 percent since 2005 (www.emissionsindex.org),
because of a combination of natural gas and renewable power replacing
retiring coal-fired power plants. MHPS has been instrumental in this
transition and last year became the global market share leader for heavy
duty gas turbines. As a next step in decarbonization, MHPS has developed
gas turbine technology that enables a mixture of renewable hydrogen and
natural gas to produce power with even lower carbon emissions. The MHPS
technology roadmap aims to use 100 percent renewable hydrogen as a fuel
source, which will allow gas turbines to produce electricity with zero
carbon emissions.
Magnum Development owns and controls the only known “Gulf Coast” style
domal-quality salt formation in the western United States. With five
salt caverns already in operation for liquid fuels storage, Magnum is
continuing to develop Compressed Air Energy Storage and renewable
hydrogen storage options. Strategically located adjacent to the
Intermountain Power Project, the Magnum site is positioned to integrate
seamlessly with the western U.S. power grid utilizing existing
infrastructure.
In many parts of the western United States, there are times of day when
demand for electricity is lower than the production of renewable power.
This leads to curtailment of renewable generation and negative
electricity pricing. Continued deployment of renewables will require
that excess power be stored for later use. To serve the needs of the
entire western United States, many gigawatt-hours of storage capacity
are required.
Initially developing enough energy storage to completely serve the needs
of 150,000 households for an entire year, the ACES initiative will
deploy four types of clean energy storage at utility scale. These energy
storage technologies include:
- Renewable hydrogen
- Compressed Air Energy Storage
- Large scale flow batteries
- Solid oxide fuel cells
“For 20 years, we’ve been reducing carbon emissions of the U.S. power
grid using natural gas in combination with renewable power to replace
retiring coal-fired power generation. In California and other states in
the western United States, which will soon have retired all of their
coal-fired power generation, we need the next step in decarbonization.
Mixing natural gas and storage, and eventually using 100 percent
renewable storage, is that next step. The technologies we are deploying
will store electricity on time scales from seconds to seasons of the
year,” said Paul Browning, President and CEO of MHPS Americas. “For
example, when we add gas turbines powered with renewable hydrogen to a
hydrogen storage salt-dome, we have a solution that stores and generates
electricity with zero carbon emissions.”
“Central Utah is the ideal location for this project, and Utah is a
business friendly state for projects like this. Magnum’s site adjacent
to the Intermountain Power Project is positioned to take full advantage
of existing regional electricity grid connections, fully developed
transportation infrastructure, ample solar and wind development
capacity, a skilled workforce currently transitioning away from coal,
and, of course, the unique salt dome opportunity,” said Craig Broussard,
CEO of Magnum. “Magnum and MHPS are great partners. Magnum has the
below-ground technologies necessary to store energy at utility scale,
while MHPS has the above-ground technologies such as hydrogen-fired gas
turbines, compressed air storage, solid oxide fuel cells and battery
storage technology, to supply electricity at grid scale. With the ACES
initiative, we will dramatically accelerate the vision of a western
renewable energy hub that we launched over a decade ago.”
“The unmatched investment and innovation brought forward by MHPS and
Magnum Development to rural Utah again demonstrates the power of the
forward-looking energy policy I have advanced throughout my
administration. Utah continues to set the standard among states for
driving next generation solutions to market,” said Gov. Herbert. “I’m
proud that Millard County’s skilled workforce, strategic energy
infrastructure and unique geological salt domes have put Utah on the map
as the epicenter of utility-scale storage for the Western United States.”
“The Governor’s Office of Energy Development is committed to creating
and building the strategic partnerships that provide local, regional and
global leadership for powering a sustainable, reliable and affordable
energy economy,” said Laura Nelson, the Governor’s energy advisor and
executive director of the Governor’s Office of Energy Development.
“Governor Herbert’s strategic energy plan continues to accelerate
unprecedented investment, innovation and workforce opportunities for
Utah’s diverse energy landscape and provide the energy future that
delivers global solutions to meet ever-evolving market demands.”
The ACES project will engineer, finance, construct, own, and operate
facilities to be located in Millard County, Utah. Over the coming weeks
and months, additional strategic and financial partners will be invited
to participate
About Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc.
Headquartered in Lake Mary, FL, MHPS Americas employs more than 2,000
people who design, manufacture, install, monitor and service natural
gas, steam and geothermal power generation products, environmental
control systems solutions, distributed renewable power projects and
energy storage systems throughout North and South America. MHPS is the
reigning annual global market share leader for Heavy Duty Gas Turbines,
and is leading the development of the digital power plant of the future
through its digital solutions, MHPS-TOMONI™. MHPS Americas is a
subsidiary of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, a joint venture between
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Hitachi, Ltd. integrating their
operations in power generation systems.
Learn more about MHPS renewable hydrogen by visiting www.changeinpower.com/acgt.
About Magnum Development
Magnum Development, LLC owns and controls the only known “Gulf Coast”
style domal-quality salt formation in the western United States. Magnum
was originally funded by Haddington Energy Partners III, LP in 2008 to
support a variety of projects centered around a large salt body near
Delta, Utah. Site viability and profitability has been proven with one
business, Magnum NGLs, LLC, which was successfully developed, brought to
commercialization, and sold in 2015. In March 2018, Magnum entered into
a joint venture with Sawtooth by contributing its refined products
business for an 8% ownership interest in the Sawtooth JV. Magnum is
focused on developing multiple portfolio companies, which are in various
stages of development: natural gas, Compressed Air Energy Storage
(CAES), refined products, and industrial gases (hydrogen and helium).
Learn more about Magnum by visiting www.magnumdev.com.
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