Page 36: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Mar/Apr 2023)

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GULF OF MEXICO HYDROGEN HUBS “H H ” ydrogen ubs to tHe ore F

The path to decarbonization is defned by partnership and fueled by government funding. This month we examine the players, partnerships, and evolution of

Hydrogen Hubs in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Barry Parker he Green Shipping Challenge, organized by lion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known the United States and Norway at COP 27 as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill) signed in 2021, which held in late 2022, brought about dozens of authorized spending of $7B on the establishment of re- announcements on maritime decarboniza- gional clean hydrogen hubs. tion. Among these was a joint statement from While the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) expects

T the Blue Sky Maritime Coalition (BSMC) – a consor- to fund up to 10 such hubs through its H2Hubs program, tium of North American shipowners and ancillary service 79 proposals were received to DOE’s initial request for providers – and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) concept papers. Of these, 33 received a “thumbs up,” en- announcing an effort to create a corridor for the Gulf of couraging them to submit more extensive proposals (due

Mexico and Lower Mississippi River region, joined by port in April, 2023) for funding. authorities and stakeholder organizations from Houston The corridors and hubs ft nicely together in the U.S. and New Orleans in this initiative. Gulf, which is known in the crude oil and refned prod-

There are multiple defnitions of what, exactly, consti- ucts trades as PADD 3 (Petroleum Administration for tutes a ‘Green Shipping Corridor,’ as dozens of initiatives Defense District). have been announced since the introduction of the con- Natural Resources Defense Council, the infuential ad- cept at COP 26 in October 2021. vocacy group, in publications examining and promoting

They can be thought of as a port-to-port trade route the hub concept reminded policy-makers (and infrastruc- (with actual port operations having a reduced or zero car- ture architects) “…that when targeted at the hard-to-elec- bon emission profle), hauling non-fossil fuel commodities trify end-uses like steelmaking, marine shipping and avia- produced with a reduced carbon footprint onboard vessels tion, green hydrogen has the strongest potential to support powered by alternative fuels. America’s transition to a clean economy.”

The Green Shipping Corridor concept links together In Green Corridors, a key element is the availability of with a newly emerging concept – “Hydrogen Hubs” – alternative fuels on a particular trade route; with the U.S. which will be funded in the wake of the massive $1.2 Tril- Gulf’s key role in hydrogen production, well-known ports 36 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM