Enel Green Power North America, Inc. (EGPNA), the North American subsidiary of Enel Green Power (EGP) has announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NextChem, to jointly work on a green hydrogen project, wherein the electrolyzer will be powered by a solar power plant of EGPNA with the resultant renewable hydrogen to be supplied to a bio-refinery.
While EGP did not identify the solar power plant or the electrolyzer capacity of the said project, on its social media accounts, EGP said this will be one of the largest green hydrogen projects in the world on completion.
NextChem, a subsidiary of Italian petrochemical and fertilizers group Maire Tecnimont, brings to the partnership its hydrogen technology and EPC expertise, while EGPNA will capitalize its renewable energy portfolio in the country to grow its green hydrogen business in the US. This green hydrogen project is likely to come online in 2023.
For Enel, this partnership is the starting point to combine 2 or more technologies such as solar and an electrolyzer to create an integrated plant with a view to leverage more sources of revenue and/or generate further risk mitigation options. It says the company is actively evaluating opportunities to co-locate electrolyzers across its development pipeline in the US.
The company aims to grow its green hydrogen capacity to over 2 GW by 2030 and is already active in the space in Italy, Spain, Chile and the US (see Copper Miner To Source RE From Enel Chile).
"We are actively scouting for opportunities in this segment in several parts of the world, both in Europe and in the Americas, and we look forward to joining forces with partners such as Maire Tecnimont to make the most of the significant potential that green hydrogen represents for the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors," said EGP CEO Salvatore Bernabei.
Together, the 2 partners aim to evaluate the implementation of their joint projects to test the advanced technologies to increase efficiency in the production of green hydrogen with the help of renewables.
In the US, EGP is building the 497 MW Roadrunner Solar Project in Texas, and a 146 MW AC solar+50 MW AC battery storage project, also in Texas. The company plans to install around 1 GW of utility scale solar and wind power projects annually through 2022 in the US and Canada (see Enel Green Power's Bifacial PV & Storage Project In US).