The Honorable Gary Herbert, Governor of Utah, accompanied by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Magnum Development, recently announced an initiative to launch the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in central Utah.
The ACES initiative will develop 1,000 megawatts of 100% clean energy storage, making it the world’s largest project of its kind. With ACES, they will be able to utilize technologies and strategies essential to a decarbonized future for the power grid of the Western United States.
The four types of energy storage technologies include:
- Renewable hydrogen
- Compressed Air Energy Storage
- Large scale flow batteries
- Solid oxide fuel cells
These four types will store clean energy at utility scale – enough energy storage to completely serve the needs of 150,000 households for an entire year! The Magnum site is positioned to integrate seamlessly with the western U.S. power grid utilizing existing infrastructure that supplies all these households.
Since 2005, carbon emissions from the U.S. power sector have dropped 30%, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. This decrease is due to a combination of natural gas and renewable power replacing retiring coal-fired power plants. MHPS has been instrumental in this transition. Last year the company became the global market share leader for heavy duty gas turbines.
They have developed gas turbine technology that enables a mixture of renewable hydrogen and natural gas to produce power with even lower carbon emissions. Their goal is to eventually use 100% renewable hydrogen as a fuel source, which will allow gas turbines to produce electricity with zero carbon emissions.
Official Announcements
Paul Browning; President and CEO of MHPS Americas, said:
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% renewable storage, is that next step. The technologies we are deploying will store electricity on time scales from seconds to seasons of the year. 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.
Craig Broussard, CEO of Magnum, said:
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.
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.
Gov. Herbert said:
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.
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.
Laura Nelson, the Governor’s energy advisor and executive director of the Governor’s Office of Energy Development, said:
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. 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, with additional strategic and financial partners being invited to participate over the coming weeks and months.
