Jason E. Kaplan
An electrical substation near Boardman tied in with the nearby Port of Morrow.
PGE and its partner reportedly shelve plans for PNWH2 project.
A planned billion-dollar hydrogen production hub near Boardman appears on the ropes as corporate backers have backed off.
As reported this month by the Washington State Standard, Portland General Electric and its partner Mitsubishi Power have quietly shelved plans for the billion-dollar clean energy hub, a holdover from the Biden-era infrastructure bill.
“Given the exit of an essential project partner in June, along with challenging project economics for utility customers and federal policy changes, PGE is no longer pursuing” the hydrogen complex, PGE spokesman Drew Hanson wrote to the news outlet.
In 2023 Oregon and Washington won big when President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy announced the recipients of $7 billion in infrastructure funds intended to kick-start U.S. production of “green” hydrogen, which uses renewable electricity to split water molecules. The Pacific Northwest’s bid was one of seven to win around $1 billion each for new Regional Green Hydrogen Hubs, which would eventually be tied in with a national network.
Supporters say this region’s project, dubbed PNWH2, offers a promising path to economic expansion and reduced emissions. The project would provide more than 10,000 jobs, including 350 permanent positions at the facility, which was to be built at the site of PGE’s demolished coal power plant outside Boardman.
But the Department of Energy under President Donald Trump has heavily scrutinized clean-energy programs and initiatives of the Biden administration, with the energy secretary stating he’s committed to eliminating funding for “bridges to nowhere.” According to The Other Oregon, the PNWH2 project has so far received $27.5 million of its full award, which was originally planned to be dispersed over an 8- to 12-year period.
The entity developing the project, the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, is a partnership involving the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Washington State University as well as prospective fuel producers, energy consumers, trade unions, utility companies and tribes. Last year a different PNWH2 project — a hydrogen facility in Centralia, Wash. — was canceled by its developer, Fortescue, and a founding PNWH2 partner, Seattle-based First Mode, declared bankruptcy.
The cancellation by PGE complicates a project at the nearby Port of Morrow, where Air Liquide planned to build a hydrogen-liquefaction plant to support the distribution of clean hydrogen around the Pacific Northwest, the Standard reports. Plans for PNWH2 call for PGE and Mitsubishi to provide gaseous hydrogen to Air Liquide at the port via a short pipeline.
The hub partnership has stated the project is still on and that cold feet are to be expected in the early phases of a nascent industry, according to the Standard. But costs to produce green hydrogen remain high, and a number of major corporations — including Shell, BP and Airbus — have scaled back plans in the area.
Two PNWH2 projects are still on. Switzerland-based Atlas Agro plans to build a $1.5 billion hydrogen-reliant green fertilizer factory near Richland, Wash. Calgary-based AltaGas plans to redevelop a closed Alcoa Aluminum smelter near Ferndale, Wash., to produce green hydrogen.
Democratic senators including Oregon’s Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley signed a letter to DOE secretary Chris Wright stating that terminating clean-energy funding approved by Congress is illegal.
“Our Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse and exclusive power to appropriate funds,” reads the letter. “In this instance, where Congress has authorized and appropriated funds for programs that support clean energy projects, the Department must faithfully execute the law and expend the funds for the purposes provided.”
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