New Mexico has finalized its joint application for a $1.25 billion U.S. Department of Energy grant that would support a group of hydrogen production, transportation and usage projects across four Western states.
Colorado, Utah and Wyoming joined New Mexico to bid for a chunk of $8 billion in federal money that was set aside for the development of "hydrogen hubs" across the country. After making it through the first cut of applicants, the coalition between the four states — dubbed the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub — submitted its final application to the U.S. Department of Energy Regional Hydrogen Hubs program on April 7.
The coalition's hydrogen hub application includes projects from eight different companies spread across the four states, with several having footprints in New Mexico. Those projects focus on producing hydrogen to support heavy-haul transportation and power generation, alongside other industrial uses.
The companies with projects in the Land of Enchantment are:
- AVANGRID, headquartered in Connecticut
- Libertad Power, based in Santa Fe
- Navajo Agricultural Product Industries (NAPI), which has its headquarters outside Farmington
- Kansas-based Tallgrass Energy
Projects from those companies were included in a concept paper that the four states released to the public in November. While some details included in the final application changed from the concept paper, New Mexico Environmental Department Secretary James Kenney told Albuquerque Business First on Monday that the focuses of the proposal — on base power generation and transportation — have remained the same.
Kenney added that companies selected to be included in the final proposal had to meet certain environmental requirements to be considered for federal dollars.
"That process … was months of discussion," he said. "There was a lot of back and forth building the architecture of what a solid application looked like and ensuring that the various public or privately-held companies could rise to those occasions. That took the most time."
Overall, projects included in the application could create around 26,000 jobs spread across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, with about 7,000 of those being construction, according to an April 10 release from New Mexico's Economic Development Department and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
Alicia Keyes, cabinet secretary for New Mexico's Economic Development Department, told Business First that she and Kenney have estimated that approximately 50% of those jobs could be in New Mexico. Those jobs could be anchored in the northwest part of the state around Grants and Gallup, as well as farther north near Farmington, Kenney said.
"Our goal, always, with the state is to service the rural areas and the underserved areas," Keyes said. "So as much of that that we can push into the rural areas we can, and because of the infrastructure that we already have regarding hydrogen and energy, a lot of that is in the rural areas."
The whole process started in February 2022 when New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a memorandum of understanding alongside the governors of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to form the Western Interstate Hydrogen Hub coalition. The coalition opened a request for proposals in late July and underwent a vetting process — which included the concept paper made public in November — before finalizing the application last week to meet the Department of Energy's April 7 deadline.
Kenney said the four states could receive feedback about the coalition's application in late summer 2023 but that, if selected to receive federal dollars, the money wouldn't come through for the chosen projects until next year.
The hub proposal meets state-led efforts to promote New Mexico's hydrogen economy, which include support for private hydrogen investment through companies like BayoTech, Pajarito Powder and Universal Hydrogen.
