The project demonstrates the potential to
displace traditional natural gas with fuels like hydrogen, which
can be made from clean renewable sources, and foster the many
environmental and economic benefits of a hydrogen economy
PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 14,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Company
(SoCalGas) and Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE), today announced the
powering of a portion of Caltech's grid with an innovative hydrogen
project that demonstrates how hydrogen could potentially offer
a strong solution for long-duration clean energy storage and
dispatchable power generation.
The project showcases how leveraging existing infrastructure
with electrolyzers and fuel cell technology may be able to create
microgrids that deliver resilient power and can help to safeguard
businesses, communities, and campuses from power disruptions. If
developed at scale, this technology may help further California Governor Gavin Newsom's recent strategic
initiatives to develop a hydrogen economy.
"It is becoming clearer with each passing day that hydrogen can
and should play a key role in California's efforts to reduce our reliance on
fossil fuels," said Senator Bob
Archuleta, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Hydrogen
Energy. "Moreover, I am excited to see Caltech, one of our
nation's leading institutions, serving as a testbed for the use of
hydrogen with this new and innovative technology on their
campus."
"This collaborative effort represents a significant step in
harnessing hydrogen as a resilient, clean energy solution that's in
line with Governor Newsom's vision for California," said Maryam Brown, President at SoCalGas.
"Integrating cutting-edge electrolyzers and fuel cell technology
into existing infrastructure demonstrates the potential for
building robust microgrids, enhancing power resiliency for
businesses, communities and campuses at scale."
"We commend Governor Newsom and SoCalGas for their vision and
leadership on the important work to develop the hydrogen economy,"
said Greg Cameron, President and
Chief Financial Officer at Bloom Energy. "As a California manufacturer of Bloom
Electrolyzers®, we are uniquely positioned to advance the goals of
delivering clean and reliable energy in a post-carbon economy. We
are working on a number of major opportunities to deliver our
electrolyzers to customers to help grow hydrogen as a significant
energy source in the U.S. and internationally."
This project takes water from Caltech's service line and runs it
through Bloom Energy's solid oxide electrolyzer, which uses grid
energy to create hydrogen. The resulting hydrogen is injected into
Caltech's natural gas infrastructure upstream of Bloom Energy fuel
cells, creating up to a 20% blend of hydrogen and natural gas. All
of this fuel blend is then converted into electricity with Bloom
Energy's fuel cells, and the electricity is then distributed for
use on campus.
Blending hydrogen into natural gas infrastructure statewide –
which could help reduce dependence on fossil fuels and ultimately
drive down hydrogen costs by scaling production – first requires
developing a hydrogen injection standard. The global hydrogen
economy is projected to potentially produce as much as 80 gigatons
of carbon abatement by 2050, which represents approximately 11% of
required cumulative emissions reductions.1
SoCalGas is working to help develop a state hydrogen
blending standard by proposing pilot projects for approval by
the CPUC. These projects could help to better understand how clean
fuels like clean renewable hydrogen could be delivered
through California's natural gas system.
Just this year, SoCalGas unveiled its award winning H2
Innovation Experience, a state-of-the-art demonstration project
designed to show the potential resiliency and reliability of a
hydrogen microgrid.
When coupled with renewable energy, clean hydrogen could help
facilitate a scalable, resilient and decarbonized energy system.
SoCalGas is working to help shape California's 21st
century energy system through investments in hydrogen, renewable
natural gas, fuel cells and carbon management.
For more information about SoCalGas' hydrogen innovation,
visit http://socalgas.com/hydrogen
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los
Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas
distribution utility in the United
States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and
increasingly renewable gas service to over 21 million consumers
across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern
California. We believe gas delivered through the company's
pipelines will continue to play a key role
in California's clean energy transition—providing
electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy
deployment.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most
innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of
that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse
gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045
and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply
to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030.
Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and
wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to
investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills
affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary
of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company
based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or
connect with SoCalGas
on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy empowers businesses and communities to responsibly
take charge of their energy. The company's leading solid oxide
platform for distributed generation of electricity and hydrogen is
changing the future of energy. Fortune 100 companies around the
world turn to Bloom Energy as a trusted partner to deliver lower
carbon energy today and a net-zero future. For more information,
visit www.bloomenergy.com [bloomenergy.com].
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about the
future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees.
Future results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking
statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the
date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
In this press release, forward-looking statements can be
identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "intend,"
"anticipate," "contemplate," "plan," "estimate," "project,"
"forecast," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may,"
"can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process,"
"construct," "develop," "opportunity," "initiative," "target,"
"outlook," "optimistic," "poised," "maintain," "continue,"
"progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar
expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy,
goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or
expectations.
Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and
events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any
forward-looking statement include: decisions, investigations,
inquiries, regulations, denials or revocations of permits,
consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of
franchises, and other actions by the (i) California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S.
Internal Revenue Service and other governmental and regulatory
bodies and (ii) U.S. and states, counties, cities and other
jurisdictions therein where we do business; the success of business
development efforts and construction projects, including risks in
(i) completing construction projects or other transactions on
schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any
of these efforts if completed, and (iii) obtaining third-party
consents and approvals; macroeconomic trends or other factors that
could change our capital expenditure plans and their potential
impact on rate base or other growth; litigation, arbitrations and
other proceedings, and changes to laws and regulations, including
those related to tax and trade policy; cybersecurity threats,
including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or
other attacks on our systems or the systems of third parties with
which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other
energy infrastructure, all of which continue to become more
pronounced; the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of
capital resources and our ability to borrow money on favorable
terms and meet our obligations, including due to (i) actions by
credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place
those ratings on negative outlook, (ii) instability in the capital
markets, or (iii) rising interest rates and inflation; failure of
our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; the
impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of
capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to
customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and
commodity prices and (ii) the cost of the clean energy transition
in California; the impact of
climate and sustainability policies, laws, rules, regulations,
disclosures and trends, including actions to reduce or eliminate
reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or
regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies,
the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and our ability to
incorporate new technologies; weather, natural disasters,
pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism,
information system outages or other events that disrupt our
operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of
harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages,
fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through
regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to
obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the
availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity,
including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or
limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage
facilities; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to
predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the
reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the
EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and
on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely
unduly on any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra
Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC
(Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de
C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as
the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or
Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra
Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas
Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the
CPUC.
1
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/five-charts-on-hydrogens-role-in-a-net-zero-future
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company