03-03-2025
Clarkson professor addresses future of green hydrogen after plans for Massena plant fall through
Mar. 2—MASSENA — Air Products officials cited a "slower than expected development of a hydrogen mobility market in the region" as one of the reasons to cancel a proposed green hydrogen facility in Massena.
But, a Clarkson University professor who has been working with hydrogen since 2004 says that despite a focus on electrification in New York, there is a market for hydrogen that could have been explored before pulling the plug.
"It's not so tough," said Simona Liguori, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and faculty affiliate at the Institute for a Sustainable Environment. "Why they wanted to build something two years ago and now they don't want to build anymore just because there is no market, I believe it's not the truth."
Air Products officials said another reason they canceled the project was "based on regent regulatory developments rendering existing hydroelectric power supply ineligible for the Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit (45V)."
Liguori said that could be a problem.
"You need infrastructure. If you don't have the money for the infrastructure, the selling of hydrogen became a bit of a problem," she said.
While the project was still underway, Massena Central School Superintendent Ronald P. Burke said he had talked with Air Product officials about the potential for hydrogen buses.
"I have a lot of concerns. The technology is not quite there yet with buses. As least as of a couple of months ago, there's only one company in New York state that's authorized to produce a hydrogen bus. We provide them with a gasoline- or diesel-powered bus. They remove that combustible power plant. Then they put in a hydrogen battery power plant, which is all good except that we lose our entire warranty on that bus. So, any of the other components that would go wrong, it's gone," he said.
But, Liguori said hydrogen has already found its way into bus fleets. Among them are buses in Rochester, where the city's Regional Transit Service rolled out two hydrogen fuel cell electric buses, the first in the state.
"There are already hydrogen buses around the world. So, there is no issue in terms of buses with hydrogen. It's not a big problem to have a hydrogen bus," she said.
There's also less of a safety concern than vehicles that operate with gasoline, she said.
"Gasoline and fuel that we put in our car daily, it can also be a bomb. We are getting so used to it that we don't think about that," Liguori said.
With hydrogen, on the other hand, "the technology is at the point that we are safe," she said.
When Air Products announced its plan to build a green hydrogen facility in Massena, there were concerns from some residents about the potential for water pollution. But, Liguori, like Air Products officials, said the water that's run through their system and entered back into the power canal would actually be cleaner than it was when it was taken out.
"When you put back, you always clean up your wastewater. When you are going to clean it up, you are going to follow the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) environmental limits. There are people that are there to check that the water can be released in the environment. The water is way more cleaner than the water that comes from power plants, where we could also have heavy metals. There could be some pollution there," she said..
Looking ahead, Liguori said that while Massena may not be home to a green hydrogen facility, hydrogen does have a future.
"Electricity will be cheaper. Heat will be cheaper because we can also use hydrogen for heating. So, I believe there is still a future," she said. "We will see hydrogen pretty soon. I don't want to say in the next couple of years. I believe it is going to have a big impact 10 years, 15 years from now."
