The Idaho National Laboratory in collaboration with three commercial electric utilities have been selected to participate in an experimental project to help improve the long-term economic competitiveness of the nuclear power industry.
The project aims to enable the production of commodities such as hydrogen in addition to electricity from commercial nuclear power plants. It is intended to expand the use of hydrogen as a storage medium for electricity production, as a transportation fuel and as a replacement for industrial processes using carbon-emitting sources in hydrogen production. Utility participants include Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Solutions, Xcel Energy and Arizona Public Service (APS).
The two-year project is supported by the US Department of Energy. It will be led by FirstEnergy Solutions who will initially demonstrate and deploy a 1 to 3 MWe low-temperature electrolysis unit to produce commercial quantities of hydrogen. The first site planned for 2020 near Toledo, Ohio, USA.