California's Green Oil Production Threatened After Trump Revokes Funding

LOS ANGELES – Despite California’s Hydrogen City facing a huge storm with industrial reality hitting hard, hydrogen, the ‘green oil,’ is still seen as the fuel that can change California into the new Dubai of renewable energy.

Right from the beaches of Los Angeles to Lancaster, there is promise; however, with federal funding being withdrawn and critics questioning the feasibility of California’s Hydrogen City, this hydrogen dream is facing its biggest storm yet.

At the edge of the Pacific is a power plant caught up in the energy gamble

The Scattergood Generating Station has become an experimental power plant that was once powered by natural gas only. It is this oceanfront facility that is at the core of California’s $800 million bet on clean hydrogen. The main plan by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is to retrofit the plant with a hydrogen-ready turbine. This plan resonates with California’s pledge to go fossil-free by 2035.

Although the plans for Los Angeles seemed solid, the Trump Administration revoked $1.2 billion in federal funding in October. The withdrawal of federal funding occurred as per the political decision that was taken to scale back nationally on federal tax credits for hydrogen.

While this federal decision may hinder many projects, including that of Scattergood Generating Station’s conversion, California wishes to push forward with hydrogen projects, even without the federal support. Despite the financial uncertainty, LA’s water and power commissioners feel that the modernization of the Scattergood Generating Station is very important and that pursuing hydrogen would also result in the creation of many jobs in California.

What to anticipate before the transition of Scattergood Generating Station?

While optimism seems to be the order of the day, the federal funding loss does leave local utilities trying to find alternative funding options. At the same time, supporters of Scattergood advocate the benefits of green hydrogen, while environmentalists remain concerned about whether projects like Scattergood will simply extend the lifespan of fossil infrastructure. At the same time, environmentalists argue about hydrogen’s safety risks.

While Los Angeles is currently considering what the future holds for this project, it must be noted that there remains solid promise in hydrogen technologies; however, at this point, the economics remain unsettling. The question remains: is America set to face the largest hydrogen deployments in history?

Moving in the direction of a hydrogen future

California is all too ready to transform, irrespective of whether it be through Lancaster’s waste-to-hydrogen breakthrough or even through Los Angeles’ retrofit. The ideal vision would be to replace oil with hydrogen while converting the state’s waste into power. Over the next few years, hydrogen’s promise will be tested; however, the race towards a hydrogen future continues for now.

With 300,000 liters of hydrogen being found in a little town called Calistoga in California, there is still hope for California’s Hydrogen City. California’s Hydrogen City remains a vision powered by innovation and conviction that even the most fierce economic storms can lead to new beginnings and the ‘green oil’ to transform California into the new Dubai of renewable energy.