The technology developed by
UCLA with support from the California
Energy Commission (CEC), and if approved, potentially by SoCalGas'
Research, Development, and Demonstration Program, is part of one of
100 applications selected among 3,000 worldwide to be showcased at
the Conference of Parties.
LOS
ANGELES, Nov. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Company (SoCalGas) announced today that an
innovative technology developed by UCLA
researchers with potential project support from SoCalGas if
approved by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), is
currently on display at the 28th session of the
Conference of Parties (COP 28) to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The
work is part of the technology showcase selected and organized by
the group Prototypes for Humanity from November 29th – December 2nd. The goal of the
technology is to use renewable solar energy and biogas to produce
hydrogen and high-quality cylindrical graphite through an
environmentally sustainable process. If developed at scale, this
technology has the potential to be applicable to fuel cells,
microgrids, and utility-scale hydrogen production.
"Having this innovative technology showcased during COP28 alongside 99 other innovative technologies
highlights the importance of cultivating a broad range of climate
solutions to help meet the global needs specific to each economy,"
said Neil Navin, Chief Clean Fuels
Officer at SoCalGas. "This technology could be capable of producing
hydrogen, which could potentially be stored for later use.
Additionally, the associated solid carbon developed from this
process could be used to produce key components of batteries, which
might help reduce battery production costs in the energy
transition."
Over the past two years, the technology was successfully
developed and demonstrated in a laboratory setting and is now
advancing from the laboratory to a real-world demonstration. The
next phase of the UCLA lead project is
to secure additional funding, with five potential demonstration
sites under consideration with SoCalGas if approved by the
CPUC.
"Further development of this project could help generate the
environmental and economic data needed to support greater adoption
and commercialization of emerging low, zero, and even negative
carbon hydrogen production technology," said Timothy Fisher, Professor at UCLA Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering. "The field demonstration is slated to begin
in the second half of 2024 and if scaled up further, could have the
potential to be deployed at sizes ranging from modular fuel cells
or microgrid backup systems to industrial or utility scale hydrogen
production and storage systems. We also believe that the process
offers significant potential to make hydrogen production more
affordable because the high-value graphite co-product could be a
crucial element to widespread electrification."
Clean energy innovations designed to decarbonize
hard-to-electrify sectors are a key component of California's efforts to achieve carbon
neutrality by 2045. To that end, SoCalGas continues to develop
Angeles Link, a proposed clean
renewable hydrogen pipeline system to serve Southern and
Central California. Angeles Link could be the nation's largest clean
renewable hydrogen pipeline system and help significantly reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electric generation,
industrial processes, and other hard-to-electrify sectors of the
California economy.
SoCalGas is also 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.
As the CPUC noted in a recent decision, "Pilot projects and further
study can also help the development of the clean renewable hydrogen
market, enable a variety of uses cases, and contribute to achieving
California's Climate goals."
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.
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,"
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"construct," "develop," "opportunity," "initiative," "target,"
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"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.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company