The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved CenterPoint Energy’s five-year innovation plan in 2024. We believe our plan will help advance Minnesota’s energy future through a diverse set of pilot projects that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand decarbonization efforts for our Minnesota customers.
About the Industrial and Large Commercial Hydrogen and Carbon Capture pilot
CenterPoint is piloting a program to help two qualifying industrial and large commercial customers discover and evaluate opportunities for integrating green hydrogen or carbon capture systems into their business operations.
- Green hydrogen: A zero-carbon energy resource created from water and renewable electricity that must be generated by a carbon-free resource.
- Carbon capture: This technology collects the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced from the use of natural gas, preventing CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
We will fund 20% of the feasibility study (up to a maximum of $30,000) to verify customers can potentially benefit from this pilot and provide customers with up to $1.5 million for qualified project installation.
Potential benefits:
- Demonstrating innovative strategies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions for industrial processes that are hard to electrify
- Implementing green hydrogen, a zero-carbon resource, for business operations
- Showing the value of these new technologies for a variety of industrial and commercial customers
What we’re hoping to learn:
- Identifying barriers to integrating green hydrogen or carbon capture into industrial and large commercial operations
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Cost-effectiveness of these technologies
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Opportunities to sequester or use captured carbon
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Scalability of these efforts across Minnesota
Timeline:
- Customer identification: 2025 – 2026
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Feasibility studies: 2026 – 2027
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Installation: 2027 – 2028
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Operation: 2027/2028 – equipment lifespan
Ideal participants are those who:
Industrial and large commercial customers looking to complete a green hydrogen or carbon capture system feasibility study and installation
Interested in learning more about participating in this pilot? Email us at InnovationPlan@CenterPointEnergy.com.
