Hydrogen May Flow Soon, but Natural Gas Should Remain, Says Sapphire Technologies CEO
Natural Gas Intelligence
March 17, 2023
By Morgan Evans
This article was originally published here.
After the Los Angeles City Council last month voted to transition the city’s largest natural gas-fired plant to green hydrogen by 2030, there are still some “areas of concern,” Sapphire Technologies Inc. CEO Freddie Sarhan said.
According to LA100, a study and roadmap for the city’s best means to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2045 or sooner, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) should work to transition its four owned and operated in-basin power plants to renewable fuels, green hydrogen or natural gas with renewable offsets.
Regulators took an initial step last month in approving a motion to open the regulatory process for the Scattergood Generating Station (SGS) Green Hydrogen project. If the LADWP’s proposal receives final approval, the agency plans to transition the 876 MW SGS to green hydrogen by 2030.
The LADWP noted in a presentation it must also decommission two of its three natural gas-fired units in 2024.
Speaking to natural gas’ role in the United States’ clean energy transition, Sarhan told NGI that “over time, anything hydrocarbon-based has been considered a pollutant, and in a purist sense, it absolutely is. But I do not believe it should go away. I do not believe natural gas should disappear, the same way I do not believe hydrogen should be the end-all, be-all solution to everything.”
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