Avina breaks ground on ‘green hydrogen’ facility in Southern California

Plant will supply hydrogen fuel through electrolysis for trucks serving port of Long Beach.

November 5, 2024 Michael Puttré

California supports hydrogen as an alternative to diesel fuel.

Image: Avina Clean Hydrogen

New Jersey-based Avina Clean Hydrogen recently broke ground on a new facility in Vernon, Calif., that is intended to produce so-called “green hydrogen” through electrolysis powered by renewable energy.

The process of electrolysis, which uses electricity to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen gas, is regarded as one of the cleanest methods, although it is also more expensive. The vast majority of the world’s hydrogen is generated from natural gas (steam reforming) or coal (gasification) in processes that generally result in significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Methane may also be released during steam reforming.

In certain sectors, green hydrogen – expressly made using renewable energy – is valued because of mandates or customer requirements. Avina’s new facility is intended to serve the transportation sector, refueling hydrogen-powered trucks carrying cargo from the nearby port of Long Beach. The plant is expected to produce up to 4 metric tons of compressed hydrogen per day without releasing CO2 or other pollution.

On-site refueling points will be able to serve up to 100 heavy trucks and buses running on fuel cells per day. Hydrogen costs increase significantly if it has to be transported to other sites.

Avina is specifically aiming to supply the transportation sector with its Southern California facility, which it says will be one of the largest in the world when completed in the summer of 2025. California has identified hydrogen fuel as a means of achieving zero-carbon transportation goals, which include replacing diesel fuel with hydrogen in trucking. The company says its facility is expected to eliminate approximately 130,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, significantly improving air quality in the local communities.

“Our facility’s strategic location in Southern California allows us to serve critical transportation corridors and urban markets, helping meet the growing demand for clean hydrogen across the region,” said Vishal Shah, founder, and CEO of Avina Clean Hydrogen.

The company reportedly has a number of other hydrogen production projects underway in the U.S.

Representatives of the city of Vernon said its Department of Public Works helped streamline the permitting process for the facility. The Vernon Public Utility also ensured interconnection for facility and the provisioning of renewable hydrogen needed for “green” status.

“We believe that Avina will be at the forefront of bringing this clean technology into mass production to meet regional needs throughout California,” said Vernon Mayor Judith Merlo.

Hydrogen is emerging as a promising alternative fuel source, whether as an alternative to diesel or gasoline in internal combustion engines or as a source of electricity from hydrogen fuel cells.

Edmonton, Alberta-based Aurora Hydrogen is applying microwave technology to produce hydrogen from natural gas with solid carbon as a byproduct, producing no emissions. The company is also focusing on long-range trucking as a potential market.

California-based ECL is developing data centers powered by hydrogen fuel cells to supply electricity demands from artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The company has one facility up and running in Mountain View and has announced plans for a 1 GW data center near Houston, Texas.

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