PG&E to study feasibility of hydrogen in gas pipelines

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is launching the nation’s most comprehensive end-to-end hydrogen study and demonstration facility.

The study will examine the future potential of the zero-carbon fuel hydrogen as a renewable energy source for not only PG&E customers but the entire global natural gas industry.

The centerpiece of the study, known as Hydrogen to Infinity (H2∞), is a large-scale project that will blend hydrogen and natural gas in a stand-alone transmission pipeline system. H2∞ will enable PG&E and its partners (Northern California Power Agency [NCPA], Siemens Energy, the City of Lodi, GHD Inc., and the University of California at Riverside) to conduct a complete study of different levels of hydrogen blends in a multi-feed, multi-directional natural gas pipeline system that is independent of its current natural gas transmission system.

NCPA’s Lodi Energy Center power plant is located adjacent to H2∞ and will accept a hydrogen-natural gas blend for electric generation in the Siemens Energy 5000F4 Gas Turbine.

PG&E Gas Engineering Senior VP Janisse Quiñones, said, “As we advance PG&E’s climate commitments and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from fossil fuels, our feasibility studies of hydrogen are an essential part of our growth and evolution as a natural gas utility. This new facility will provide critical research, close information gaps, and unlock opportunities for PG&E and the entire global network of natural gas pipeline operators.”

H2∞ will include a new 130-acre facility located in Lodi, California that will serve as a study laboratory that incorporates production, pipeline transportation, storage, and combustion.

Areas of focus within the pilot include:

• Technical, operational, and safety needs
• Market development
• Energy resiliency and flexibility
• Commercial and government partnerships
• Unprecedented functional test environment for ongoing research
• Training environment for new technology
• In addition, PG&E is contemplating this facility being the centrepiece for a potential Northern California Hydrogen Hub.