Mitsubishi Power, Texas Brine partners for hydrogen storage solutions in Eastern US

Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. and Texas Brine Company, LLC have agreed to develop large-scale, long-life hydrogen storage solutions to support decarbonization efforts throughout the eastern United States. Long-term hydrogen storage is a key enabling technology for the transition to a zero-carbon energy future.

This collaboration expands Mitsubishi Power's ability to safely and profitably store hydrogen in salt mines at strategic locations in North America. Texas Brine, the nation's largest brine producer, and its subsidiaries have salt stations in New York, Virginia, Texas, and Louisiana that will allow access to major cargo centers in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Gulf Coast.

Salt deposits are unique geological features that in mines can be extracted through solution mining to provide safe, reliable, and economical bulk gas storage. Hydrogen has been stored in salt mines for decades on the Gulf Coast of the United States. Expanding the use of salt mines for hydrogen energy storage in other regions offers a significant opportunity to create a clean energy resource infrastructure across the United States to benefit industries such as energy, transportation, and manufacturing that target zero net carbon dioxide emissions.

Collaboration with Texas Brine enhances Mitsubishi Power's developing hydrogen infrastructure:

• In 2019, Mitsubishi Power announced a joint venture with Magnum Development to develop the world's largest renewable energy storage project, the Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project to enable decarbonization efforts across the entire western region of the United States and adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project, which has transmission interconnections to major western demand centers.
• In September 2020, Mitsubishi Power announced a joint development agreement with Entergy to collaborate in bringing decarbonization projects to Entergy's utilities in four states.
• Also in September, Mitsubishi Power announced that it had obtained technical selections for three projects using its hydrogen-ready M501JAC gas turbines at the Danskammer Project being developed by Agate Power in Newburg, New York, the Chickahominy Power Project. Chickahominy Power) being developed by Balico in Virginia and the Harrison Power Project being developed by EmberClear.

The Texas Brine collaboration complements Mitsubishi Power's growing portfolio of hydrogen-ready gas turbines by placing large-scale hydrogen storage close to projects, enabling access to inexpensive utility-scale renewable energy storage. public.

Mitsubishi Power's collaboration with Texas Brine offers other symbiotic benefits. Brine, a mixture of water and salt, is produced during mining by dissolving salt formations. It can then be used as a critical raw material for the chemical industry or dehydrated to produce salt for the food, thawing, agriculture, industrial, and water softening markets. The by-product of the dissolution mining process is an underground reservoir that can be used to store raw materials in a liquid or gaseous state, such as hydrogen. In contrast, when a salt mine is specifically designed and manufactured for hydrogen storage, it employs the same dissolution mining process, which ultimately generates a brine by-product that can be used as a feedstock.

The alliance will initially focus on existing sites controlled by Texas Brine and its affiliates. Both companies will evaluate the hydrogen storage opportunity in new and existing mines, along with detailed engineering and design studies to support hydrogen storage needs. In addition, companies will explore entirely new applications that can benefit from hydrogen storage and the production of dry brine and salt.

Ted Grabowski, President, and CEO of Texas Brine said, " Strategic alliances that enhance collaboration across industry domains are critical to profitable use of resources. We look forward to partnering with Mitsubishi Power to support the safe and low-cost storage of hydrogen at our sites in the eastern United States and to explore synergistic opportunities at sites in other parts of the country. "

Paul Browning, President, and CEO of Mitsubishi Power Americas said: " To achieve an energy transition to a future with zero net carbon dioxide emissions, we have to work with partners. Decarbonizing multiple verticals require implementing innovative partnerships and intersectoral teams. Our alliance with Texas Brine supports our mission to provide power generation and energy storage solutions to our customers by providing them with tools to affordably and reliably combat climate change and promote human prosperity. Together with our partners, we are creating a Change in energy matters".