ALABAMA, N.Y. — The one-year anniversary of when Plug Power broke ground on a hydrogen plant in Genesee County is fast approaching.
While progress is being made on the facility, however, it won't be producing hydrogen as soon as previously hoped.
The groundbreaking held on Crosby Road on October 20, 2021, was significant in no small part due to this being the first development for the 1,200-acre Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, commonly known as STAMP, which for years had been trying to attract tenants without success.
The plant, when operational, is expected to produce 45 tons of liquid hydrogen per day, according to Plug Power's General Manager of Energy Solutions and Chief Strategy Officer Sanjay Shrestha.
Shrestha said this would be enough to power (for a single day).
- -50,000 fuel cell forklifts, or,
- 7,500 light commercial vehicles, or,
- 1,000 "class a" trucks.
Work has been progressing on the site to build out parts of the plant prior to the construction of one of its main components, the electrolyzer which is used to extract hydrogen from water.
During a recent visit in September, Shrestha noted the work done thus far to construct two large spheres, each capable of holding 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen, as well as the area which will eventually become the loading facility for trucks to carry the liquid hydrogen produced at the plant, which Shrestha says will employ 55-60 full-time workers when finished.
However, when the ground was broken last October, it was also announced that the plant hoped to be up and running by now.
According to Shrestha, the new target for having the plant operation is the second half of 2023.
"There are things that go better than you think they will, and things that go slower than you think, " he said.
Shrestha cited a delay in the permitting process for a nearby electrical substation, critical to plant operations, as one factor.
"Without the power, you can't energize the plant," said Shrestha, while predicting the permits would be approved soon.
One thing you won't see at the plant when it is finished are smokestacks billowing pollutants into the atmosphere.
"The only thing we will emit is oxygen," explained Shrestha. "There is no CO2. This is the new refining that is going to support the transportation industry with the difference being that it doesn't have any pollution attached to it and that's the best part."
The $290 million project received $118-million in tax breaks and other subsidies including hydropower grants for what will initially be a plant with between five and six dozen workers.
However, Shrestha noted that such taxpayer investments are the reality for many types of alternative energy projects.
"We’re very appreciative of the support we’re getting from both the state and federal government. But when hen you think about any new technology, there was a subsidy for nuclear energy, when you do oil drilling there's a subsidy from a tax cut perspective, and subsidies for clean coal," he said. "So, energy is somewhat of a subsidized industry when you really think about it."
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