New Fortress Energy is planning to build five industrial-scale hydrogen production hubs as part of its pursuit of a pure-play clean hydrogen infrastructure business.
The liquefied natural gas company has started construction on its first plant in Beaumont, Texas, where it is expected to produce 50 tons per day of green hydrogen, the company said on its 3Q22 earnings call today.
New Fortress Energy is taking learnings from the construction of the Beaumont plant to scale up its hydrogen business via additional projects that will produce a combined 90,000 tons per year, according to a presentation.
The company is building a pure-play clean hydrogen business, known as Zero, which it plans to capitalize separately in the near future.
Plug Power will provide electrolyzers while Entergy will provide renewable power to the Beaumont plant, which is set to begin operations in 2024.
The location of the project in southeast Texas is near refineries with an anticipated demand of 1,000 tons per day – over 20 times what the Beaumont plant will produce initially, said Patrick Hughes, managing director and chief commercial officer of NFE Zero.
“So plenty of demand and plenty of growth potential in the immediate region,” the executive said, who noted the company was focused on optimizing offtake for the first phase of the project.
In addition to nearby refineries, the Beaumont project could also supply for an Entergy power plant known as Orange County Advanced Power station. Existing pipeline networks could also ship green hydrogen around the region.
“The good thing about electrolyzers is that it’s fairly straightforward to scale,” Hughes said.
