Blue Hydrogen
Natural Gas Today.
Blue Hydrogen Tomorrow.
Phase 1 generates power from Permian natural gas using proven combustion turbines. Later phases are planned to add blue hydrogen production, converting that same gas into low-carbon hydrogen and capturing the carbon dioxide before a single megawatt is generated.
Overview
Blue Hydrogen
Trans Permian is designed to be built in phases. Phase 1 is a natural-gas-fired power plant on a site we own, with gas supply from the Permian pipeline corridor and an ERCOT interconnection. Later phases are planned to add blue hydrogen production and carbon capture, with the turbines able to burn hydrogen as it comes online. Each phase stands on its own commercially; each one makes the next possible.
What Blue Hydrogen Is
Blue hydrogen is part of Trans Permian’s later-phase plan. The description below explains what it is and why the site is well suited for it; Phase 1 generates power from natural gas alone.
Hydrogen burns without producing carbon dioxide. The carbon question with hydrogen is not what happens when you burn it. It is what happened when you made it.
Most hydrogen produced today comes from natural gas through a process called reforming, which separates the hydrogen from the carbon. In a conventional plant, the carbon dioxide released during that separation goes to the atmosphere. That is grey hydrogen.
Blue hydrogen is the same process with the carbon captured rather than released.
This facility produces approximately 138 tonnes of hydrogen per day, and captures approximately 1,130 tonnes of carbon dioxide per day in doing so.
Why Hydrogen First
Why Not Just Capture It From the Exhaust?
This is the question that determines whether carbon capture on a power plant works in practice or only on paper.
In a conventional gas plant, fuel is burned in air. Air is roughly 78% nitrogen, so the exhaust leaving the stack is mostly nitrogen with carbon dioxide diluted through it, typically in the range of four to five percent. Pulling CO2 out of that stream means processing an enormous volume of gas to recover a small fraction of it. It is technically possible, expensive, and consumes a significant share of the plant’s own output to run. That is why so few plants do it at commercial scale.
Reforming produces a different stream entirely. The carbon dioxide comes off concentrated, at a small fraction of the volume, in a form where separation is a routine industrial process rather than a marginal one.
Producing hydrogen first is not an extra step added for appearances. It is the step that makes capture practical.
What Happens to the Carbon
Approximately 1,130 tonnes of carbon dioxide are captured each day, roughly 395,500 tonnes per year.
The captured CO2 is compressed and delivered to enhanced oil recovery operations in the Permian Basin. There it is injected into producing formations, where it both increases oil recovery from existing fields and remains in geologic storage.
This is utilization rather than disposal. The carbon does work rather than simply being buried, and the Permian Basin has decades of operating history with CO2 injection, which means the infrastructure, the expertise, and the regulatory framework already exist.
What This Means in Practice – Carbon Intensity
The result is power that runs on demand, at a carbon intensity substantially below conventional gas-fired generation.
Two design decisions drive it. Carbon capture during hydrogen production removes the majority of process emissions at the point where removal is practical. And approximately 24 MW of on-site renewable generation supports the reforming process, reducing the carbon intensity of the hydrogen itself.
What the facility does not do is produce intermittent power. This is dispatchable generation, available at approximately 97% effective availability, roughly 355 days per year. The carbon profile does not come at the cost of reliability, which is the tradeoff most low-carbon generation requires.
Why it Matters
Why Blue Hydrogen Matters Commercially
Firm and Low-Carbon
Two attributes that have generally required a tradeoff.
Continuous Load
Suitable for industrial processes and electrified operations that cannot tolerate interruption.
Corporate Carbon Commitments
A power supply consistent with public commitments most large consumers now carry.
Behind-the-Meter Delivery
Power supplied directly to co-located load without waiting on grid interconnection.
Proven, Not Experimental
Nothing Here Is Experimental
Natural gas reforming has been operated at industrial scale for decades. Carbon capture from concentrated process streams is established practice. CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery has been standard in the Permian Basin since the 1970s. Combined-cycle generation is the most widely deployed thermal generation configuration in the world.
Every component of this facility is commercially proven and in service somewhere today.
What has not been done is integrating them this way, at this scale, in an inland Permian context. The innovation is the configuration, not the technology, and that distinction matters: it means the project carries commercial execution risk rather than technology risk.
Reforming
Operated at industrial scale for decades across the chemical and refining industries.
Carbon Capture
Established practice on concentrated process streams.
CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery
Standard Permian Basin practice since the 1970s, with existing infrastructure and regulatory framework.
Combined-Cycle Generation
The most widely deployed thermal generation configuration in the world.
Hydrogen-Capable Turbines
Commercially available equipment specified for hydrogen operation.
Learn More
Frequently Asked Questions
What is blue hydrogen?
Hydrogen produced from natural gas, with the carbon dioxide released during production captured rather than emitted. The same process without capture produces what is commonly called grey hydrogen.
Why produce hydrogen instead of just burning the natural gas?
Because it is what makes carbon capture practical. Burning gas directly produces a large volume of exhaust with carbon dioxide diluted through it, which is expensive and energy intensive to capture from. Reforming produces a concentrated CO2 stream where separation is routine.
How much hydrogen does the facility produce?
Approximately 138 tonnes per day.
How much carbon dioxide is captured?
Approximately 1,130 tonnes per day, roughly 395,500 tonnes per year.
What happens to the captured carbon dioxide?
It is compressed and delivered to enhanced oil recovery operations in the Permian Basin, where it is injected into producing formations. It increases recovery from existing fields and remains in geologic storage.
Is this technology proven?
Every component is. Reforming, carbon capture from concentrated streams, CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery, and combined-cycle generation are all commercially established. What is new is the integration of all four in this configuration and location.
Does the low-carbon profile reduce reliability?
No. The facility is designed for approximately 97% effective availability, roughly 355 days per year, and produces dispatchable power available on demand.
Is the equipment able to run on hydrogen?
Yes. The generation equipment was specified for hydrogen operation from the outset rather than adapted to it later.
Powering Trans Permian
Learn more about the Trans Permian project, or contact us for more information.