US industrial gases company Air Products has unveiled plans to invest about $500mn in a green liquid hydrogen plant at Massena in New York state.

The company will own and operate the facility, which is to be built on a greenfield site and will have a production capacity of 35t/d aimed mainly at the mobility market.

Air Products aims to start commercial operations at the site in 2025-26. The facility will include distribution and dispensing operations.

To support the project, Air Products has already secured access to 94MW of hydroelectric power from the dam across the St. Lawrence River on Barnhart Island in Massena under a deal with utility the New York Power Authority.

The capital budget for the project “anticipates the receipt of certain local and state incentives, as well benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA]”, Air Products says.

35t/d – Target output of plant

“This project is another demonstration of our leadership role in the low-carbon hydrogen and the hydrogen for mobility markets,” says Air Products CEO Seifi Ghasemi.

“New York state’s and [the] IRA incentives will continue to encourage hydrogen’s key role and our investment in the energy transition.”

Air Products is betting on growing demand for green hydrogen from the mobility and industrial sectors in the northeast on the back of proposals led by New York to develop one of the regional clean hydrogen hubs designated through the federal clean hydrogen hubs programme.

In addition to the production plant at Massena, the company is studying the feasibility of establishing a hydrogen fuelling network in the northeastern US. This would include the ability to serve Air Products’ truck fleet in the region. The company has announced plans to convert its entire global fleet of approximately 2,000 trucks to hydrogen fuel cell zero-emission vehicles.

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Author: Stuart Penson