LOS ANGELES and SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec.
14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co.
(SoCalGas), the nation's largest natural gas distribution utility,
and Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) today announced a project to showcase
the future of the hydrogen economy and the technologies needed to
help California reach carbon
neutrality. The companies will collaborate to generate and then
blend hydrogen into a university customer's existing natural gas
network to demonstrate how the natural gas infrastructure can
be decarbonized, while balancing future energy supply and demand.
The project is set to launch next year on the campus of the
California Institute of Technology
(Caltech) in Pasadena.
"California has ambitious
climate goals and a successful energy transition will require
companies to collaborate and implement innovative projects," said
California State Assembly member Chris
Holden. "This unique demonstration could help our state
transition to a carbon neutral future."
The collaboration will utilize Bloom Energy's solid oxide, high
temperature electrolyzer to generate hydrogen, which will then be
injected into Caltech's natural gas infrastructure. The resulting
10 percent hydrogen blend will be converted into electricity
without combustion through existing Bloom Energy fuel cells
downstream of the SoCalGas meter, producing electricity for a
portion of the university. For the purpose of this project, the
electrolyzer is designed to generate hydrogen from grid
electricity.
At scale, the electrolyzer and fuel cell combination could
enable long duration clean energy storage and low-carbon
distributed power generation through the gas network for
businesses, residential neighborhoods, and dense urban areas. When
configured as a microgrid, it could also provide resilient power
when and where energy is needed most, protecting businesses,
campuses or neighborhoods from widespread power outages.
"We need to pursue a diverse set of decarbonization
levers," said Maryam Brown,
president, SoCalGas. "Projects like this expand and accelerate
clean fuel initiatives, which will help decarbonize California faster."
Bloom's high-temperature electrolyzer produces hydrogen more
efficiently than low-temperature PEM and alkaline electrolyzers.
Because it operates at high temperatures, the Bloom Electrolyzer
requires less energy to break up water molecules and produce
hydrogen. Electricity accounts for nearly 80 percent of the
cost of hydrogen from electrolysis. By using less electricity,
hydrogen production becomes more economical and will accelerate
adoption. The Bloom Electrolyzer is also designed to produce
green hydrogen from 100 percent renewable power.
"With our technology and collaborations like this one, Bloom
Energy continues to lead advancements in decarbonizing today's
energy system and accelerating a hydrogen-fueled economy," said
Sharelynn Moore, executive vice
president and chief marketing officer, Bloom Energy. "Enabling both
the production and utilization of hydrogen, Bloom Energy's
solutions are well-suited to support use of the natural gas network
to reduce carbon emissions while bolstering energy resilience."
A new economy-wide technical analysis released by SoCalGas
revealed that fuel cell technology, powered by clean fuels like
hydrogen, can provide additional reliability and resiliency that
will be in increasing demand as California moves towards its decarbonization
goals.
Today, SoCalGas is actively engaged in more than 10 pilot
projects related to hydrogen, including its award-winning H2
Hydrogen Home. SoCalGas is also evaluating the potential to use
existing infrastructure for transporting hydrogen through
testing and demonstration at its engineering analysis
center and is collaborating with California's other
gas utilities and research institutions to develop a hydrogen
blending standard for regulatory review.
Bloom Energy is engaged with industry leaders to accelerate the
global hydrogen economy, including projects related to producing
low-cost, green hydrogen and utilizing nuclear energy to
create clean hydrogen.
To learn more about SoCalGas' net zero goals, please visit:
socalgas.com/mission
To see how Bloom Energy is powering the future, visit:
bloomenergy.com/technology/powering-the-future/
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
21.8 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of
Central and Southern California. 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 company in America. In support of that mission,
SoCalGas is committed to the goal of achieving 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
dairy farms, 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 services
holding 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's mission is to make clean, reliable energy affordable
for everyone in the world. Bloom's product, the Bloom Energy
Server, delivers highly reliable and resilient, always-on electric
power that is clean, cost-effective, and ideal for microgrid
applications. Bloom's customers include many Fortune 100 companies
and leaders in manufacturing, data centers, healthcare, retail,
higher education, utilities, and other industries. For more
information, visit www.bloomenergy.com.
This press release contains statements that constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements are based on assumptions with respect to the future,
involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future
results may differ materially from those expressed in any
forward-looking statements. 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 other factors. In this press release, forward-looking
statements can be identified by words such as "believes,"
"expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects,"
"forecasts," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident,"
"may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process,"
"under construction," "in development," "target," "outlook,"
"maintain," "continue," "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 described in any
forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating
to: decisions, investigations, regulations, issuances or
revocations of permits and other authorizations, renewals of
franchises, and other actions by (i) the California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, and other
regulatory and governmental bodies and (ii) states, counties,
cities and other jurisdictions in the U.S. in which 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) the ability to
realize anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if
completed, and (iii) obtaining the consent of partners or other
third parties; the resolution of civil and criminal litigation,
regulatory inquiries, investigations and proceedings, and
arbitrations, including, among others, those related to the natural
gas leak at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility; actions
by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or to
place those ratings on negative outlook and our ability to borrow
on favorable terms and meet our substantial debt service
obligations; actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural
gas, including any deterioration of or increased uncertainty in the
political or regulatory environment for local natural gas
distribution companies operating in California; weather, natural disasters,
pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, acts of
terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt
our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the
release of harmful materials, cause fires or subject us to
liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and
penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance, may be
disputed by insurers or may otherwise not be recoverable through
regulatory mechanisms 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 limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage
facilities; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on capital
projects, regulatory approvals and the execution of our operations;
cybersecurity threats to the storage and pipeline infrastructure,
information and systems used to operate our businesses, and
confidentiality of our proprietary information and personal
information of our customers and employees, including ransomware
attacks on our systems and the systems of third-party vendors and
other parties with which we conduct business; volatility in
inflation and interest rates and commodity prices and our ability
to effectively hedge these risks; changes in tax and trade
policies, laws and regulations, including tariffs and revisions to
international trade agreements that may increase our costs, reduce
our competitiveness, or impair our ability to resolve trade
disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult
to predict and are beyond our control. Some of these risks and
uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra and
Bloom Energy have 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, on
Sempra's website, www.sempra.com, and Bloom Energy's website,
www.bloomenergy.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any
forward-looking statements. Neither party undertakes any obligation
to revise or publicly update any forward-looking statements unless
if and as required by law.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company