HNO Promises First Hydrogen Off-Grid Microgrids near Houston This Fall
California-based green hydrogen startup HNO International will build its first-ever HyGrid H2 microgrids in the petrochemical-rich Houston region.
HNO says its first two HyGrid microgrids will deliver 4 MW of off-grid energy on the relatively small footprint of one-fifth acre each. The company did not detail an end-use customer for the microgrids in its news release.
Hydrogen is a carbon-free and energy-dense gas capable of power generation, but it is difficult to generate commercially despite its abundance. Green hydrogen would be created by electrolyzers powered by carbon-free resources such as solar, wind, hydro or nuclear.
The two HNO HyGrid hydrogen microgrids are scheduled for delivery in south Texas sometime this fall. Hydrogen microgrids are still in their commercial infancy.
"This milestone marks the first real-world deployment of HyGrid, and it will redefine how the world thinks about clean power infrastructure," said Don Owens, chairman and CEO of HNO International, in a statement. "We're delivering industrial-scale energy - clean, reliable, and continuous - from a footprint smaller than a parking lot."
Hydrogen can be generated from steam methane reforming which separates the H2 from methane gas, but also emits multiple times more carbon dioxide than it produces usable hydrogen, according to reports. Steam reforming technologies are in wide use along the Houston Gulf Coast due to the nexus of fossil fuel transport and terminaling there.
Earlier this year, HNO International announced a long-term power purchase agreement for solar-powered hydrogen production. The PPA reportedly will create electricity at four cents per kWh, but again the release did not name the PPA customer.
Hydrogen by electrolysis is relatively expensive to produce, compared with steam reforming and other fossil-fuel technologies. However, numerous companies are exploring ways to produce H2 at scale because of its energy delivery, storage and carbon-free properties.
Electrolyzers split the H2 from water.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor
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I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.