Air Products, AES announce plans to build largest green hydrogen facility in United States
Air Products and The AES Corporation announced Thursday they will invest $4 billion over the next five years to build the largest green hydrogen facility in the United States in Wilbarger County, Texas.
The renewable hydrogen project will include approximately 1.4 GW of wind and solar power, as well as electrolyzer capacity able to produce more than 200 metric tons of green hydrogen per day. Company officials said the new facility will be the largest green hydrogen facility in the U.S. to use wind and sun as energy sources.
“This project will capitalize on AES’ position as one of the nation’s largest renewable energy developers and its global leadership in innovations such as energy storage systems and supplying around-the-clock clean energy to data centers,” AES President and Chief Executive Officer Andrés Gluski said. “We are very pleased to partner with the world leader in hydrogen, Air Products, for this first-of-its-kind mega-scale green hydrogen facility in the United States. We will build more than 1 GW of new solar and wind facilities to provide zero-carbon energy for electrolysis and related production facilities. AES believes that green hydrogen has a key role to play in decarbonizing transportation and accelerating the future of energy.”
Scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2027, the facility will provide zero-carbon intensity fuels for the mobility market and other industrial markets, the companies said. If the heavy-duty truck market were to switch to green hydrogen, the company said, it would eliminate more than 1.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually compared to diesel use. Over the project lifetime, it is expected to avoid more than 50 million metric tons of CO2, the equivalent of avoiding the emissions from an estimated five billion gallons of diesel fuel, the company said.
Officials estimate the project will create more than 1,300 construction and 115 permanent operation jobs and about 200 transportation and distribution jobs. Additionally, the project is expected to generate approximately $500 million in tax benefits in Texas.
The companies said they expect demand for green hydrogen to grow over the next decade, a growth supported by net zero ambitions announced by several states and major corporations.
