Chevron to develop hydrogen production facility in California

Chevron New Energies, a division of Chevon, is developing a hydrogen production project in California’s Central Valley.

The 5-megawatt project seeks to develop lower carbon energy by using solar power, land, and non-potable produced water from Chevron’s existing assets at the Lost Hills Oil Field in Kern County. This low carbon intensity (LCI) electrolytic hydrogen will be produced through electrolysis – the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

“Hydrogen can play a vital role in our journey toward a lower carbon future,” Austin Knight, vice president for hydrogen at Chevron New Energies, said. “Chevron already offers lower carbon fuels like sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel and others, and this project is expected to expand the portfolio of solutions Chevron could supply to the region.”

Knight added that Chevronʻs ability to meet growing hydrogen demand and build hydrogen fueling infrastructure in California to a commercial scale will be led by state and federal energy policies that promote new lower carbon energy solutions.

The facility is designed to produce two tons of LCI hydrogen per day, with the goal of supporting an expanding hydrogen refueling network. The development of the project is expected to span multiple years. The start of commercial operations will depend on several factors including flexible and supportive legislative and regulatory energy policies, final engineering design, timely permitting, and obtaining the necessary materials.

“This project will help develop key technical and commercial proof points as Chevron New Energies assesses concepts for future scale-up and new lower carbon intensity hydrogen production opportunities,” Richard Chapman, president and CEO, Kern Economic Development Corporation, said. “By locating expected production in the Central Valley, we believe the project will be well positioned to meet the demand of customers along an important transportation corridor, as well as having proximity to key California urban markets.”