Hydrogen

SoCalGas and Bloom Energy power part of Caltech campus with hydrogen

The project is intended to showcase how leveraging existing infrastructure with electrolyzers and fuel cell technology may be able to create microgrids that deliver resilient power and can help safeguard businesses, communities, and campuses from power disruptions.

SoCalGas and Bloom Energy power part of Caltech campus with hydrogen
(Image: Delta-EE)

Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and Bloom Energy announced the powering of a portion of Caltech’s grid with a hydrogen project meant to demonstrate how hydrogen could potentially offer a solution for long-duration clean energy storage and dispatchable power generation.

The project is intended to showcase how leveraging existing infrastructure with electrolyzers and fuel cell technology may be able to create microgrids that deliver resilient power and can help safeguard businesses, communities and campuses from power disruptions.

This project takes water from Caltech’s service line and runs it through Bloom Energy’s solid oxide electrolyzer, which uses grid energy to create hydrogen. The resulting hydrogen is injected into Caltech’s natural gas infrastructure upstream of Bloom Energy fuel cells, creating up to a 20% blend of hydrogen and natural gas. All of this fuel blend is then converted into electricity with Bloom Energy’s fuel cells, and the electricity is then distributed for use on campus.

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SoCalGas is working to help develop a state hydrogen blending standard by proposing pilot projects for approval by the CPUC. These projects could help to better understand how clean fuels like clean renewable hydrogen could be delivered through California’s natural gas system.

Earlier this year, SoCalGas unveiled its H2 Innovation Experience demonstration project designed to show the potential resiliency and reliability of a hydrogen microgrid.