A Fifth of U.S. Green Hydrogen Projects Eyed for Water-Stressed Areas

August 08, 2024

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by Alec Luhn (Floodlight) As the federal government pours billions into hydrogen production to lower greenhouse gas emissions, critics worry water shortages in the Southwest could worsen -- Armed with bright green shovels, executives from the Australian mining giant Fortescue broke ground in May on a green hydrogen plant outside of Buckeye, Arizona, in an area the city calls the “Sustainable Valley.”

But this wind- and solar-powered plant in the Sonoran Desert will make hydrogen trucking fuel from a groundwater source that experts say is not sustainable. The 11,000 metric tons of hydrogen per year that the project plans to produce will require at least 26 million gallons — and use between 32 to 45 million gallons total if the additional water needed for purification and cooling is included, according to water usage estimates by the Argonne National Laboratory.

If the water needed to produce and operate the wind and solar power is included, and if the leftover water from all these processes is not pumped back into the surface or groundwater source, the plant could consume up to 319 million gallons, according to water withdrawal estimates published in the journal Renewable Energy. In either case, it will remove even more water from an aquifer that has been declining by 3 feet per year, mainly due to irrigation for alfalfa and other crops. A well just over a mile from the plant site has fallen 170 feet since 2000.

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Fortescue said in a statement it was committed to reducing water use but declined to say exactly how much the plant would consume.

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The water use of Fortescue and other hydrogen projects, including a 3,650-ton plant in nearby Casa Grande, raises a potential issue with the green hydrogen buildout encouraged by tax breaks and direct funding under President Joe Biden's two major climate laws — the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Out of 18 approved hydrogen production projects that will require significant freshwater, four are in areas of high or extremely high water stress, including the Buckeye-area plant, according to the World Resources Institute's Water Risk Atlas. That designation compares water demand to available groundwater or surface water supply. While these 18 projects are already under construction or have a final investment decision, many other projects are being developed in water-stressed areas.

The seven regional hydrogen hubs selected by the Department of Energy for funding each of between $750 million and $1.2 billion include proposed projects in areas of high or extremely high water stress. Worldwide, most green hydrogen projects are located in water-stressed regions such as the Middle East.

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While activists and researchers have questioned whether the blue hydrogen supported by the hubs initiative and 45V will actually reduce emissions, green hydrogen has its own drawback with water. In the current fossil-fuel dominated electricity grid, it would take more than 100 gallons of H2O to make enough green hydrogen to drive 100 miles, compared to about 25 gallons for gasoline and about 10 for diesel, the Argonne National Laboratory estimates.

However, extracting fossil fuels as well as cooling coal- and gas-fired power plants guzzles tens of billions of gallons of freshwater each year. If U.S. hydrogen production reached a middle-of-the-road scenario for a “deeply decarbonized” future in 2050, it would consume 15% of the freshwater required by the entire U.S. energy system in 2014 while producing about 10% of total energy.

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Four of the private green hydrogen projects as well as the ARCHES hydrogen hub, which has been awarded up to $1.2 billion by the DOE, are located in the southwestern United States. This region has the most sunshine for cheap solar energy to power the electrolysis, and it’s also near California, where limits on emissions from transportation fuels have spurred interest in hydrogen for trucking.

But parts of the Southwest remain in the worst megadrought in 1,200 years despite a bout of rainfall this winter; the Great Basin has lost trillions of gallons of groundwater, and the vital Colorado River is drying up. A 2019 study found that counties in southern and central California, southern Arizona and southern Nevada would experience water scarcity of more than 10 billion liters per day in 2040 based on projected hydrogen production.

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The ARCHES hydrogen hub plans to produce 17 million metric tons of hydrogen per year by 2045, which could consume up to 70 billion gallons for electrolysis — and up to 494 billion gallons for the whole life cycle if leftover water isn’t returned to its source.

That’s equivalent to the average yearly water use of up to 4.8 million Californians, although still only about 4% of the state's total water use.

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ARCHES is set to include 37 projects in central and southern California, some of them in areas of extremely high water stress. For instance, Energy Resources is planning to produce 21,000 metric tons of hydrogen per year in Lancaster in Los Angeles County, which is located in the Mojave Desert and has had to restrict watering in recent years due to drought. The entire solar-powered project will consume 97 million gallons of water per year, said Element Resources CFO Avery Barnebey.

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The nonprofit Food and Water Watch has estimated that the hydrogen to run that first plant would suck up 122 million gallons of water a year by 2045.

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There are ways, however, to shrink green hydrogen's water footprint, starting with returning the purification and cooling water to the source. Building more renewable energy will also reduce water use. Green hydrogen made with energy from only wind turbines, which require far less water than other major power sources including solar panels, would consume about 18 gallons of water to fuel a car for 100 miles — less than gasoline produced in the current energy grid.

In addition, at least two green hydrogen projects are relying almost entirely on treated wastewater, although this is more expensive than groundwater. Plug Power is even building a wastewater treatment plant to hand over to the city of Mendota, California, as part of its 11,000-ton green hydrogen plant there.

Finally, several companies are developing pilot projects to produce green hydrogen with desalinated seawater. But desalination requires additional energy and discharges salty brine that could potentially harm marine ecosystems in some areas.

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Companies and governments in arid places like California will eventually need to invest more in power lines or water pipelines to connect sunny areas to water resources for green hydrogen production, said UC-Irvine’s Brouwer (Jack Brouwer, an engineering professor at University of California-Irvine), who is also part of the ARCHES leadership team.

“We run a wire from the good solar to where the water is,” he said. “We could also do the reverse, run a pipe from where the water is to where the good solar is.” READ MORE

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Excerpt from Hydrogen Fuel News: Critics have pointed to the Southwest water shortages

Just recently in May 2024, Fortescue held its groundbreaking ceremony for its Buckeye, Arizona green hydrogen plant within a zone labeled by the city as the “Sustainable Valley.”

That said, the Sonoran Desert plant, which will be powered by wind and solar energy – will be using groundwater for the production of the zero-carbon emission H2 fuel, which critics are calling unsustainable. The plant will require at least 26 million gallons of water in order to produce the 11,000 metric tons of H2 per year that it is slated to produce.

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Beyond that, it will need a total of between 32 and 45 million gallons (including what is required for the H2 production itself) if that previously quoted amount doesn’t include the water required for purification and cooling, according to Argonne National Laboratory water usage estimates.

The water usage figures for the green hydrogen production remain unclear

If the original figure does include all the water required for producing and operating the wind and solar energy, and if the remaining water following all the required processes is not directed back into the local groundwater or onto the surface, data published in the Renewable Energy journal estimated that the plant would consume as much as 319 million gallons of water.

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Regardless of which total is the true requirement by the green hydrogen plant, estimates show that its presence will remove more water from the local aquifer, which has already been suffering a 3-feet per year decline primarily due to its use for alfalfa and other crop irrigation.

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Of 18 approved green hydrogen projects that will require substantial freshwater quantities, 4 are located in areas where high or extremely high water stress is already an issue. This includes the plant in the Buckeye, Arizona area, according to the Water Risk Atlas from the World Resources Institute. READ MORE