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Mitsubishi Power Americas CEO Mike Hopkins and Bakken Energy founder Steve Lebow color in a single eye on traditional Japanese dolls presented at the North Dakota Capitol on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, a traditional gesture meant to show commitment to the fulfillment of a challenging task. Adam Willis / The Forum
North Dakota officials and a heavy-hitting lineup of business executives announced plans Wednesday, June 2, to convert a troubled synthetic natural gas plant in the western part of the state into a large-scale producer of hydrogen, a recently vogue energy source with wide-ranging uses in cars, trucking and energy generation.
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Bakken Energy LLC, formerly Bakken Midstream Natural Gas LLC, and Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. (Mitsubishi Power) have signed a strategic partnership agreement on June 2 to create a world-class clean hydrogen hub in North Dakota. This hub will be composed of facilities that produce, store, transport and consume clean hydrogen. It will be connected by pipeline to other clean hydrogen hubs being developed throughout North America.
Developing infrastructure for hydrogen enables decarbonization of sectors such as energy, agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing that are targeting net zero carbon emissions. Hydrogen is a carbon-free energy carrier and a carbon-free fuel. The most common forms of clean hydrogen are green and blue. Green hydrogen is created from water using renewable energy and electrolysis. Blue hydrogen is derived from natural gas with the carbon dioxide emissions captured and sequestered. The
Plans have been unveiled for a “world-class” clean hydrogen hub in North Dakota that will produce, store, transport and consume clean hydrogen.
Bakken Energy and Mitsubishi Power Americas have joined forces on the hub which will focus on blue hydrogen production which is derived from natural gas with the carbon emissions being capture and sequestered.
The duo said they hope to connect the facility by pipeline to other hydrogen hubs currently being developed throughout North America to help the decarbonisation of a variety of sectors such as energy, agriculture, transportation and manufacturing.
Welcoming the plans for the hub, North Dakota Governor, Doug Burgum, said, “Blue hydrogen represents a huge opportunity for synergies with our existing energy development, and these are exactly the innovative strategies that will bring North Dakota one step closer to being carbon neutral by 2030 with an all-of-the-above energy approach.”