Angeles Link – a proposed hydrogen hub for California’s LA Basin

Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) is proposing a major green hydrogen infrastructure build for the Los Angeles region.

The initiative, the largest to date in the US, is envisaged as delivering more renewable energies into the region and supporting decarbonisation of the power sector, industry, heavy-duty transport and other hard to electrify sectors of the local economy, a statement reads.

It also would significantly decrease demand for natural gas, diesel and other fossil fuels, helping to accelerate California’s and the region’s climate and clean air goals.

For example, up to almost 14 million litres of diesel daily could be displaced by powering heavy trucks with hydrogen fuel cells, the company estimates, while up to four natural gas power plants could be converted to green hydrogen.

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“The challenges we face on climate require solutions of scale and urgency,” said Scott Drury, chief executive officer of SoCalGas.

“The Angeles Link is designed to meet those challenges head-on. Today in Southern California we’re announcing plans for one of the world’s largest clean energy infrastructure systems to help tackle emissions for which there are no easy answers. Those emissions – from power plants, industry, and heavy-duty trucks – very much ‘count’ and must be significantly reduced to reach our and the state’s climate goals.”

SoCalGas envisages that the Angeles Link would deliver green hydrogen in an amount equivalent to almost 25% of the natural gas the company delivers today.

The basis for the Link would be one or more trunk transmission pipelines that would run from green hydrogen generation sources including the Central Valley, the Mojave Desert or the Blythe area into one or more delivery points in the Los Angeles Basin.

These would likely be supported by one or more compressor stations, as needed based on length and operating pressure, connecting to individual customers and/or a local distribution system.

SoCalGas has proposed a three-phase programme from pre-engineering and design to developing a final proposal, each taking 18 months or more with total costs running into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Initial comment from the industry, state and city governments and labour has been positive.

Janice Lin, founder and President of the US Green Hydrogen Coalition, says the Coalition’s models demonstrate that Los Angeles can achieve less than $2/kg mass-scale green hydrogen delivery by 2030, at which it would be economically more attractive than diesel or gasoline.

The Coalition is developing HyDeal Los Angeles as a competitive high volume supply chain for green hydrogen – the first in North America – with multi-sectoral off take, e.g. for power, transportation, industrial, maritime and aviation.

An application requesting approval to track costs related to development of the Angeles Link is now with the California Public Utilities Commission.