Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) is collaborating with GTI Energy to study the use of H₂ and H₂ blending in hard-to-decarbonize commercial and industrial processes, continuing its efforts to help the company and California achieve net-zero aspirations.

The aim of the project is to study the use of H₂ in heavy equipment, blended with natural gas up to 100% H₂, with an emphasis on end-uses that cannot easily be electrified. The focus of the study will be on costs, safety and emissions reductions when introducing H₂ in commercial and industrial uses. GTI Energy will lead the effort in collaboration with Utilization Technology Development, NFP (UTD), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). SoCalGas has awarded $752,000 to help fund the project, which is in addition to a $1.77-MM grant approved by the California Energy Commission in July 2022.

The study will survey large commercial and industrial users to understand which equipment has the highest potential for decarbonization with H₂ blends, including industries such as steelmaking, glass, cement, aerospace, and agriculture. After identifying those uses, the project team will then test commercial and industrial equipment fuel blending up to 100% H₂.

"One of California's biggest challenges in achieving net zero is finding ways to decarbonize heavy industries whose functions are difficult or impossible to electrify," said Neil Navin, chief clean fuels officer at SoCalGas. "This collaboration with GTI Energy will help us identify the most promising avenues to decarbonize and take important steps toward reaching net zero through clean fuels."

The project will lean on GTI Energy's significant experience in the field of H₂ applications across different sectors and aims to provide important outcomes to the industry for H₂ implementation across multiple end-use sectors.

"We're focused on providing options for SoCalGas's commercial and industrial customers to decarbonize their operations with H₂-based fuels, with an eye towards safety, equity, and environmental impacts. Decarbonizing California's businesses and industry is no small task, and we're fortunate in this effort to build on strong partnerships with SoCalGas and other utilities, in addition to an excellent technical team—including EPRI, UC Irvine, and AHRI," said Kristine Wiley, vice president of the H₂ Technology Center at GTI Energy.

H₂ is set to play a critical part in SoCalGas' – and California's – energy future, particularly in decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors such as heavy-duty transportation, power generation, and heavy industries.

Toward that end, SoCalGas is working to develop Angeles Link, a proposed, dedicated clean renewable H₂ pipeline system that could deliver clean, reliable, renewable energy to the Los Angeles region.

In December, the California Public Utilities Commission approved SoCalGas' request to track costs for advancing the first phase of the project, which could be the nation's largest dedicated clean renewable H₂ pipeline system and support significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks, power generation, industrial processes, and other hard-to-electrify sectors of the Southern California economy. Angeles Link, the H₂ Innovation Experience, and more than a dozen H₂ demonstration projects SoCalGas is currently pioneering, are all part of its ongoing efforts to help accelerate California's energy transition.