EGEB: Midwestern states now lead the US in wind capacity

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Wind capacity has grown rapidly in the US in the last decade, and most of it is in the Midwest.
• An Anglo-American partnership wants to launch as many as 40 green hydrogen refueling stations in the UK.
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Midwest wind power

US wind power has grown significantly over the past decade, from 40.1 gigawatts in January 2011 to 118.3 GW at the end of 2020. Most of that growth occurred in the Midwest, the US Energy Information Administration reported today.

At the beginning of 2011, Texas (which is of course on its own grid) had 9.4 GW of wind capacity. By the end of 2020, wind grew to 27.9 GW, and it leads the US in wind power.

The Midwest’s wind rose from 8.6 GW in 2011 to 26.9 GW in 2020.

In 2011, the Central region – Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, parts of North Dakota – had about half the wind capacity of the Texas and Midwest regions. But after adding more wind capacity in the last decade than any other region – 20.5 GW – the Central region is now one of the top US wind capacity regions.

The US added 14.2 GW of annual wind capacity in 2020. Previously, the most annual wind capacity added in the US was 13.2 GW in 2012.

Green hydrogen in the UK

Long Beach, California-headquartered Ways2H, a global supplier of green hydrogen systems, and Skipton, UK-headquartered Element 2, a hydrogen refueling station provider and hydrogen fuel retailer, yesterday announced they would collaborate on the production and distribution of green hydrogen fuel for public transit and other transport in the UK.

Ways2H will supply facilities that convert waste into hydrogen gas to supply the hydrogen for Element 2’s network of hydrogen refueling stations. (Ways2H has already achieved this in Japan.)

The first project is planned for Scotland. The two companies envision as many as 40 sites. Each provides 500 kg to 1 ton per day of renewable hydrogen fuel. As they begin to arrive in the UK, this will be enough for a heavy-duty truck, lorry, or other Heavy Goods Vehicle to cover 11,000 road kilometers (6,835 miles).

Electrek asked both companies’ CEOS if they would be receiving British government incentives.

Element 2 CEO Tim Harper replied: 

We are entirely self-funded at the moment. There are still a lot of uncertainties regarding what support the government will provide and how it will be accessed.

Ways2H CEO Jean-Louis Kindler also replied: 

Not at this time, but from other projects in the UK I know there are incentives available. So long story short, we have not identified a specific incentives package but we expect to have some indeed.

The British government is due to announce its green hydrogen strategy before July 22, and it’s expected to include incentives for green hydrogen transport. In November 2020, the UK government wrote in its “Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution”:

Working alongside partners in industry, our aim is for the UK to develop 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 that could see the UK benefit from around 8,000 jobs across our industrial heartlands and beyond. This will be supported by a range of measures, including a £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, and setting out next year, our hydrogen business models and a revenue mechanism for them to bring through private sector investment.

Read more about Ways2H:

• Turning waste into green hydrogen has great potential
• This Tokyo facility converts sewage into clean hydrogen

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