HOUSTON – American Electric Power (AEP), one of the U.S.’s largest utilities, announced on Monday the launch of the nation’s first grid-scale hydrogen storage facility in Texas, designed to solve intermittency challenges of wind power in the state’s Permian Basin.
The $450 million facility, located near Odessa, will use excess electricity from nearby wind farms to produce green hydrogen via electrolysis during periods of high wind output. The stored hydrogen—equivalent to 100 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy—will then be converted back to electricity using fuel cells during low-wind hours, ensuring a steady power supply to 30,000 local households.
“This project proves hydrogen can be a game-changer for renewable energy integration,” said Julie Sloat, AEP’s president of transmission and distribution. “Texas leads the U.S. in wind power, but its variability has long been a barrier. Now, we can capture surplus wind energy instead of wasting it, making our grid more resilient and sustainable.”
The facility, developed in partnership with hydrogen technology firm Plug Power, is supported by a $120 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Hub program. AEP plans to expand the site to 500 MWh of storage capacity by 2030.
