Dive Brief:
- Nebraska Public Power District will replace an existing coal-fired boiler at its Sheldon Station plant with one that burns hydrogen, the Lincoln Journal Star reports. The utility says the move will make it the first power company to convert a coal plant to burn hydrogen on a utility scale.
- The shift is part of an arrangement with Monolith Materials, which plans to build a manufacturing facility near the power plant. Monolith produces hydrogen as a co-product of its carbon black production, which is often used in tires.
- The new generator will have a capacity of 125 MW, which NPPD said is the first utility-scale hydrogen generator in operation. reducing emissions by more than 1 million tons annually.
Dive Insight:
In a unique deal with Monolith Materials, which produces carbon black, NPPD will purchase the byproduct hydrogen and replace a coal generator at the Sheldon Station facility in Hallam, Nebraska. The utility said it expects to reduce CO2 emissions by 1.1 million tons each year, and that other types of air emissions will be reduced as well.
“We are embarking on a new chapter in the history of Sheldon Station and electric generation in Nebraska with the decision by Monolith Materials to locate in Nebraska,” NPPD President and CEO Pat Pope said in a statement. “Sheldon Station has always been a place of firsts – the first nuclear plant in Nebraska and now the first utility-scale hydrogen powered generator.”
The hydrogen unit will reduce the public power district's use of coal, which currently provides about half of its generation, while cutting air emissions from Unit 2 at Sheldon to almost nothing. NPPD provides power to about 600,000 people in Nebraska.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts praised the deal in the company's press release, saying the "private business-led solution has the potential to support 600 new jobs and hundreds of millions of new capital investment in the state."
Construction on the projects will begin next year, with a 2019 target to begin operations. Monolith intends to construct its new facility near the Sheldon Station, and will power the facility with electricity from Norris Public Power District.
