We’ve updated our green hydrogen project list this week to include HIF Global’s potential facility on the Texas Gulf Coast. Located just southwest of Houston, the HIF Matagorda eFuels Facility will use green hydrogen and captured CO2 to produce low-carbon synthetic fuels. HIF Global recently announced that it had reached an agreement with Siemens Energy to utilize that company’s Silyzer 300 proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen for the Matagorda plant. Assuming the project moves forward, Siemens Energy would provide 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of electrolysis capacity to the project, which aims to produce approximately 300,000 metric tons of H2 annually. In daily terms, that’s about 820,000 kilograms per day of hydrogen, making Matagorda one of the largest green hydrogen project proposals in the U.S. Pending a final investment decision to proceed, construction on Matagorda eFuels could start next year with an estimated commercial start in 2027. Also, for more information on Matagorda and HIF Global’s other projects, see our recent blog on the company’s efforts.
Another green hydrogen project moving forward is also aimed at supplying the synthetic fuel sector. Orsted’s Power-to-X facility, said to be located along the “US Gulf Coast”, may come online by 2025 and produce approximately 300,000 metric tons per year of e-methanol. Under an agreement with Maersk, the methanol appears to be destined for us as fuel in a newly ordered fleet of 12 methanol-powered shipping vessels. Though we don’t know an exact location of Orsted’s plant, which will include 675 megawatts of electrolysis, it is said to be powered by a planned 1.2 GW of renewable wind and solar power. We estimate the project could produce about 270,000 kg/day of hydrogen at 100% utilization, while the stated methanol output implies about 155,000 kg/day. Orsted’s Power-to-X process is shown in the company’s illustration below.
