Chevron Acquires Majority Stake in Hydrogen Storage Project in Utah

SAN RAMON, Calif. — Chevron USA has acquired a majority stake in an advanced clean energy storage project utilizing hydrogen in Delta, Utah.

The investment comes as part of a deal with Haddington Ventures, through which the oil giant acquired Magnum Development LLC.

Magnum had been part of a joint venture with Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc., to develop the storage project, which they called ACES Delta, ACES being an acronym for Advanced Clean Energy Storage.

The partners’ plan is to use electrolysis to convert renewable energy into hydrogen and will utilize solution-mined salt caverns for seasonal, dispatchable storage of the energy. 

The first project, designed to convert and store up to 100 metric tons per day of hydrogen, is under construction and is expected to enter commercial-scale operations in mid-2025 to support the Intermountain Power Project’s “IPP Renewed” initiative. 

Several other opportunities for the project to produce and supply hydrogen to customers in the utility, transportation and industrial sectors in the western region of the United States are in development, Chevron said in a press release.

“As we continue to pursue lower carbon energy solutions, we are excited to move forward with the Advanced Clean Energy Storage hydrogen project, through our acquisition of Magnum Development and partnership with Mitsubishi Power, to build on Chevron’s 75-year history in Utah,” said Austin Knight, vice president, Hydrogen, Chevron New Energies. 

“We seek to leverage the unique strengths of each partner to develop a large-scale, hydrogen platform that provides affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy and helps our customers achieve their lower carbon goals,” Knight added.

As part of broader efforts to pursue lower carbon energy solutions, Chevron New Energies is working to enhance demand for lower carbon intensity hydrogen — and the technologies that support cost-effective supply — as a commercially viable alternative in the transportation, power and industrial sectors where greenhouse gas emissions are hard to abate.

“Reaching this milestone in the development of our hydrogen project will not only have significant benefits to the western U.S. population, but it will also serve as a blueprint for future hydrogen opportunities,” said Michael Ducker, senior vice president of Hydrogen Infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power, in a written statement. 

“With Chevron New Energies’ involvement, we expect to expand hydrogen supply more quickly. Together, we are investing in the future of hydrogen, helping to create a viable, cost-competitive market for emerging lower carbon solutions,” Ducker said.

The Intermountain Power Project has been providing municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives in six states with coal-fired electricity for the past 30 years.

More recently, it has been working to evolve into a more diverse regional energy hub by expanding its use of renewable energy resources to produce and store hydrogen that can be drawn upon to generate carbon-free electricity.

IPP’s proximity to the only major geologic salt dome formation in the west makes it the ideal location for siting and scaling up these emerging clean energy technologies.

IPP Renewed includes the retirement of the existing coal-fueled units at the IPP site; installation of new natural gas-fueled electricity generating units capable of utilizing hydrogen for 840 megawatts net generation output; modernization of IPP’s Southern Transmission System linking IPP to Southern California; and the development of hydrogen production and long-term storage capabilities. 

Upon buildout of these facilities IPP will use renewable energy-powered electrolysis to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, storing the latter in underground salt caverns for use as fuel to drive electricity-generating turbines. 

The new natural gas generating units will be designed to utilize 30% hydrogen fuel at start-up, transitioning to 100% hydrogen fuel by 2045 as technology improves.

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