SGH2 gets nod for “greener-than-green” hydrogen plant in California

February 3 (Renewables Now) - SGH2 Energy Global Corporation has recently received approval from the City of Lancaster Planning Commission that paves the way for the construction of a so-called “greener-than-green” hydrogen plant.

More specifically, the Commission has given the green light to the company’s use permit (CUP) and environmental impact statement (CEQA), allowing for a final investment decision to be made in order to proceed with the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase.

The project involves the construction of a facility featuring SGH2’s Solena Plasma Enhanced Gasification (SPEG) technology, which converts rejected recycled mixed-paper waste into carbon-negative hydrogen. The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 12 tonnes of clean hydrogen per day, or 4,500 tonnes per year, by converting 42,000 tonnes of rejected recycled mixed-paper waste annually.

According to SGH2, its conversion process lowers carbon emissions by two-to-three times more than green hydrogen produced using electrolysis and renewable energy. The output will be cheaper even than hydrogen produced from natural gas, it says.

“Our facility has a low environmental footprint with minimal polluting emissions or effluents and meets all California’s strict state and local environmental and safety standards. All the carbon-negative clean hydrogen we produce has long-term off-take agreements and will supply hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) in the Los Angeles metropolitan areas while simultaneously supporting the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) and the Air Resources Board’s (CARB) goal of decarbonizing our heavy mobility footprint,” said Robert T. Do, CEO of SGH2.

Following the approval, the SGH2 Lancaster project will be eligible to receive a USD-3-million (EUR 2.75m) CEC grant plus support under the Inflation Reduction Act clean hydrogen production tax credit.

The project developer is part of the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES), a public-private effort to create a sustainable clean hydrogen hub in California, which is expected to submit by early April a full application for funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE).

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.917)