Rendering of Advanced Clean Energy Storage Salt Caverns: The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project is one of the largest clean hydrogen projects globally to have reached financial close. (Rendering Credit: Mitsubishi Power)

Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. welcomes a new strategic partner to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah. Chevron U.S.A. Inc., through its Chevron New Energies division, recently closed a transaction to acquire a majority interest in ACES Delta, LLC (ACES Delta) which is developing the project. ACES Delta is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power and Magnum Development, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron.

The addition of Chevron to ACES Delta underscores the potential the project brings to the advancement of lower carbon intensity solutions, specifically in the areas of hydrogen production, storage, and utilization. ACES Delta will leverage Chevron’s experience in the fuels business, alongside Mitsubishi Power’s clean energy technology solutions and services. The goal is to further advance decarbonization efforts, facilitate growth in demand for hydrogen, and develop future opportunities for commercially viable alternatives in the transportation, power, and industrial sectors.

The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project is an industry and utility-scale, clean hydrogen facility designed to produce, store, and deliver green hydrogen to the western U.S. It intends to use excess renewable energy, such as wind and solar, to power large-scale electrolyzers supplied by Mitsubishi Power that will produce lower carbon intensity hydrogen and oxygen. The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project’s ACES 1 is expected to produce approximately 100 metric tons of hydrogen per day by mid-2025.

“The addition of Chevron to ACES Delta is further evidence that partnership and commitment from a diverse group of experts and leaders are beneficial to the industry’s continued pursuit of decarbonization solutions,” said Michael Ducker, Senior Vice President of Hydrogen Infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power. “This project is a bellwether for the industry and serves as a model for future innovative clean energy projects. We welcome Chevron and look forward to working together.”

The project intends to use Utah’s unique geological salt domes to store the hydrogen across two massive salt caverns, each capable of storing 150 GW hours of energy. The long-duration energy storage capability of the salt caverns is expected to help improve resource adequacy by capturing excess renewable power when it is abundant and dispatching it back on the grid when it is needed.

Offtake for the first two caverns has been secured by Intermountain Power Agency for their IPP Renewed project in central Utah. The 840-MW natural gas power plant at IPP Renewed plans to operate on fuel with up to 30 percent lower carbon intensity hydrogen in 2025 and 100 percent by 2045.