At a development website alongside the Los Angeles River, simply south of the place 4 freeways converge in Vernon, a crane hoisted a set of large white pipes into the air on a current weekday morning.
The pipes will finally be related to gasoline dispensers the place they’ll function storage vessels for hydrogen — a rising but controversial supply of vitality that some see as key to California’s formidable local weather targets.
The positioning is being developed by a New Jersey-based firm referred to as Avina in partnership with Vernon Public Utilities. When accomplished this October, it’s deliberate to supply as much as 4 metric tons of compressed inexperienced hydrogen a day to energy heavy-duty vehicles and buses, serving to to wash up one of many worst polluting sectors within the state.
The power is predicted to eradicate roughly 130,000 metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions yearly, in accordance with Avina. Firm officers stated will probably be the most important clear hydrogen undertaking with on-site shelling out — that means pumps the place fleets can refuel — within the nation.
The undertaking is rising regardless of a quickly altering vitality panorama in america. The Trump administration in current months has slashed subsidies, grants and tax advantages that help wind, photo voltaic and renewable vitality initiatives, whereas concurrently championing fossil fuels within the title of vitality independence. Trump obtained file donations from oil and fuel pursuits throughout his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
Building continues on the new Avina Clear Hydrogen Facility in Vernon. Firm officers stated will probably be the most important clear hydrogen undertaking with on-site shelling out — that means pumps the place fleets can refuel — within the nation.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
Hydrogen has additionally been hit by the administration’s shifting aims, with Trump’s landmark spending plan — the so-called Massive Lovely Invoice — slated to finish federal tax incentives for brand spanking new hydrogen initiatives that break floor after Jan 1, 2028. Already this yr, the Division of Power has canceled billions of {dollars} in funding for clear vitality initiatives, and is contemplating slashing $1.2 billion for a serious hydrogen hub in California awarded by President Biden.
But even within the absence of such help, Southern California is doubling down on hydrogen, each as an funding and a pathway towards carbon neutrality.
“This is one of the reasons why we think California is really going to stand out,” stated Vishal Shah, Avina’s founder and chief govt, as he walked by way of the development website in Vernon. “Because when federal legislation changes happen, what happens is states step up.”
Shah stated California’s local weather management is a part of what drew Avina to the state. The undertaking has obtained grants from CalStart — a clear transportation nonprofit — and the California Power Fee, together with two rounds of funding from vitality and tech buyers together with Chart Industries and KBR.
“What’s also driving us are state-level regulations that are going to continue to push these fleets — and a lot of other consumers — toward zero-emission transportation,” Shah stated. California has dedicated to reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
Hydrogen just isn’t with out detractors, nonetheless. The method is energy- and water-intensive and has traditionally been linked to the manufacturing of pure fuel. That’s as a result of one of the frequent strategies of manufacturing it entails heating methane to launch the hydrogen, which may additionally launch nitrogen oxides and different pollution within the course of.
Vishal Shah, founder and chief govt of Avina, is photographed on the firm’s deliberate Clear Hydrogen Facility in Vernon that can assist the transportation trade transition away from fossil fuels.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
Hydrogen’s hyperlink to fossil fuels may be why the Trump administration’s strategy to it has been murkier than its strategy to renewables comparable to wind and photo voltaic. Simply earlier than the Massive Lovely Invoice’s passage, the Senate determined to prolonged its hydrogen tax credit score deadline from the top of this yr to the top of 2027.
Avina says it’s engaged on a cleaner strategy. The Vernon facility will use massive electrolyzer machines powered by 100% clear vitality to separate hydrogen from water. The machines will likely be fueled by wind and photo voltaic initiatives in California, together with vitality sourced from Vernon Public Utilities, whose grid is presently 40% renewable-powered.
The water used within the course of — about 30,000 to 40,000 gallons per day — will come fully from Vernon’s groundwater, with no imported provides, in accordance with Margie Otto, assistant common supervisor of Vernon Public Utilities.
“Knowing that there is all this legislative requirement to go as green as you can — as renewable you can — how do you get there?” Otto stated. “When you look at the different renewable sources like solar and wind and geothermal, they have limitations on the volume that they can provide as well as the sustained availability. Clean hydrogen is one of those good mediums that addresses both: It puts out very low emissions, plus, volume-wise, it can handle what would traditionally be provided with common fuel sources like natural gas and petroleum.”
A development employee on website on the Avina Clear Hydrogen Facility. The undertaking has obtained grants from CalStart — a clear transportation nonprofit — and the California Power Fee.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
Whether or not Southern California will turn out to be a hydrogen juggernaut relies upon partly on whether or not initiatives like Avina work. Shah stated the Vernon website will meet the deadlines and qualify for the federal tax credit score, and that one among his foremost aims is to convey the price of retail hydrogen gasoline to parity with diesel — a “magic number” that hovers someplace round $10 per kilogram. Present charges are roughly $20 to $30 per kilogram, he stated.
“We certainly see us getting there in a relatively short amount of time,” Shah stated, partly as a result of the state is continuous to put money into hydrogen, and since the wind and photo voltaic vitality sources the undertaking will rely on have been coming down in value over time, making hydrogen a extra inexpensive prospect.
Jack Brouwer, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Irvine who just isn’t concerned with the undertaking, stated it might function proof-of-concept for the remainder of the area and nation.
“They are one of the first to actually work through all the details of this to see if it can actually be cost-effective today,” stated Brouwer, who can also be the director of UC Irvine’s Clear Power Institute.
He stated Avina is smart to concentrate on heavy-duty vehicles and freight transport as a result of it is likely one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize, and since hydrogen hasn’t but actually caught on with gasoline cell vehicles or passenger autos that run on hydrogen, regardless of a statewide community of fueling stations. What’s extra, specializing in the transportation sector has among the greatest well being advantages for deprived communities that reside close to the Port of Los Angeles and the freight corridors that historically spew diesel air pollution.
“It’s still going to be more expensive than diesel, but if they can get close, that’s going to be super exciting,” Brouwer stated. “Because then, as the technology costs go down their regular cost curve — like sun and wind power have, like batteries have — we’re going to start to find people adopting this technology.”
A view of development on the new Avina Clear Hydrogen Facility in Vernon. It is going to use massive electrolyzer machines powered by 100% clear vitality to separate hydrogen from water.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
It stays to be seen whether or not Trump’s wind and photo voltaic tax cuts may have a slowing impact on the hydrogen initiatives that rely on them. Below the Massive Lovely Invoice, wind and photo voltaic initiatives should both start development by subsequent July or be positioned into service by the top of 2027 in an effort to obtain the credit score.
Brouwer stated these sectors have already gotten extra inexpensive and aren’t more likely to lose a lot momentum in California.
Avina additionally isn’t the one hydrogen undertaking underway in L.A. County. A Texas-based firm referred to as Aspect Sources is planning to construct one of many largest inexperienced hydrogen vegetation in North America, the $1.85-billion Lancaster Clear Power Middle, slated for opening in 2027.
In the meantime, the Los Angeles Division of Water and Energy is changing its Scattergood Producing Station — the most important pure gas-fired energy plant within the metropolis — right into a hydrogen-ready facility as a part of its decarbonization technique. L.A. has dedicated to 100% renewable vitality by 2035.
The estimated $800-million undertaking would see two of the plant’s fuel items changed with items that may function on a mix of pure fuel and at the very least 30% hydrogen, and is slated for completion towards the top of 2029. DWP officers stated the objective is to finally attain 100% inexperienced hydrogen as extra provide turns into out there and the expertise evolves.
The undertaking just isn’t solely key to town assembly its clear vitality targets, but additionally making certain a dependable supply of vitality throughout crises that pressure the grid, comparable to warmth waves or wildfires, officers stated. Nevertheless, the plan has drawn appreciable opposition from environmental teams such because the Sierra Membership and the Los Angeles Waterkeeper, who say that the combination of hydrogen and pure fuel — so-called grey hydrogen — just isn’t aligned with L.A.’s local weather targets.
“We are concerned about a lot of the unknowns that come with the Scattergood proposal,” stated Ben Harris, a senior employees lawyer with L.A. Waterkeeper. “They rely on assumptions about hydrogen gas being available on an open market, and until then, they would be burning natural gas.”
Harris referenced a current report from researchers on the UCLA Luskin Middle for Innovation that discovered that hydrogen energy — even inexperienced hydrogen — would have a major water-use footprint in water-stressed California, and must be carried out with warning.
However although he want to see the DWP deploy extra alternate options to hydrogen to assist meet its clear energy targets, together with wind and photo voltaic, Harris was tentatively extra supportive of inexperienced hydrogen initiatives, such because the one rising in Vernon — offered it achieves what it the corporate says it may well do.
“If it’s done right, green hydrogen won’t be produced through fossil fuels,” Harris stated. “And it could have potentially less water use than other conventional fossil fuel generation. So I think there could be a role for it.”
Others within the state are extra smitten by hydrogen — even within the face of the fossil-fuel-favoring federal administration. In April, a bipartisan group of California lawmakers referred to as on the Trump administration to protect the $1.2 billion in funding for the state’s hydrogen hub, noting that the undertaking “plays a critical role in securing American energy dominance.”
Brouwer, of UC Irvine, stated hydrogen’s function as each a transition gasoline and a long-term local weather resolution is all however inevitable.
“I don’t know how big a role, but it’s going to play a role for sure, so it’s a good investment,” he stated.
Finally, he added, it doesn’t matter if inexperienced hydrogen initiatives are pushed by revenue, legislative mandates or another motivation, as long as the local weather advantages are achieved.
“I hope California and Los Angeles show this to the whole world — and have the whole world adopt this technology — because unless it does, we don’t affect the climate, either,” he stated. “That’s what’s gotta happen.”
