Bakken Energy has partnered with Mitsubishi Power Americas on the development of a clean hydrogen production facility with an estimated gross production capacity of 381,000 metric tons/year of clean hydrogen. The hydrogen hub would be located on the former Great Plains Synfuel Plant.

The project would employ technologies including Auto-Thermal Reforming technology and it would ensure greater than 95% capture rates for resultant CO2.

The clean hydrogen production facility would provide clean hydrogen to markets of long-haul trucking and agriculture in the Upper Midwest region.

In addition, Bakken Energy has partnered with the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara (MHA) Nation to use low carbon intensity clean hydrogen production processes to work toward the elimination of natural gas flaring and the related CO2 emissions from flaring on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Bakken Energy would capture natural gas that would otherwise be flared and convert it into clean hydrogen.

Bakken agreed to purchase the assets of the Dakota Gasification Company, a subsidiary of Basin Electric, and the owner of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in 2021. The plant has been operating for 25 years converting coal to synthetic natural gas. CO2 from the process is captured and sent to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan, Canada for enhanced oil recovery.

In January 2022, Bakken announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with BNSF Railway to work together on the design of the Heartland Hydrogen Hub, specifically the role of railways as consumers and transporters of clean hydrogen.

In October 2022, the project was in the latter stages of Pre-Front End Engineering and Design.

In January 2023, local news outlets reported that the talks between Bakken and Basin Electric to purchase the Great Plains Synfuels Plant had fallen through, leaving the future of the hub uncertain.