Industrial gas company Air Products and energy company AES Corporation announced on 8 December plans to invest $4b to construct, own, and operate a green hydrogen plant in Wilbarger Country Texas. 

The mega-scale renewable power to hydrogen project will include approximately 1.4 GW of wind and solar power generation, along with electrolyzer capacity capable of producing over 200 metric tons per day of green hydrogen.

This will make it the largest green hydrogen project in the United States. 

Air Products and AES will jointly and equally own the renewable energy electrolyzer assets, with Air Products serving as the exclusive off-taker and marketer of green hydrogen under. 30-year contract. 

The facility is slated to begin commercial operations in 2027, serving the growing demand for zero-carbon intensity fuels in the mobility market as well as industrial markets. 

Over the project’s lifetime, it is expected to avoid more than 50 million metric tons of CO2, the equivalent of avoiding emissions from nearly five billion gallons of diesel fuel. 

"We are very pleased to announce this exciting joint venture with AES, which is one of the leading renewable energy companies in America. The new facility in Texas will be, by far, the largest mega-scale clean hydrogen production facility in the U.S. to use wind and sun as energy sources. 

“We have been working on the development of this project with AES for many years and it will be competitive on a world-scale while bringing significant tax, job and energy security benefits to Texas. We are excited to move forward and make clean green hydrogen available to U.S. customers in the near future," said Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products' Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. 

AES President and Chief Executive Officer Andrés Gluski stated, "This project will capitalize on AES' position as one of the nation's largest renewable energy developers and its global leadership in innovations such as energy storage systems and supplying around the clock clean energy to data centers. 

“We are very pleased to partner with the world leader in hydrogen, Air Products, for this first of its kind mega-scale green hydrogen facility in the United States. We will build more than 1 GW of new solar and wind facilities to provide zero carbon energy for electrolysis and related production facilities. AES believes that green hydrogen has a key role to play in decarbonizing transportation and accelerating the future of energy."  

The project is subject to receipt of local permits, and local, state and federal incentives.