Universal Hydrogen to develop manufacturing hub in New Mexico

The company has chosen a 50-acre parcel of property northeast of the passenger terminal at the Albuquerque International Sunport to manufacture and distribute its hydrogen storage modules, assemble airplane retrofit kits, perform aftermarket maintenance services, and manage administrative activities. The location includes access to a runway and the potential future reclamation of a rail spur south of the Sunport.

New Mexico will be at the heart of the company’s mission to decarbonise hard-to-abate greenhouse gas emissions in aviation, ground transportation, and heavy industry to help the US meet the Paris Agreement goals. The company also has facilities in California, Washington State, and in Toulouse, France.

Universal Hydrogen will spend one to two years on the planning and construction of its New Mexico facilities, with a goal of commencing full-scale manufacturing by 2024. It anticipates investing over US$254 million into New Mexico and aims to hire 500 employees over the next seven years. These jobs will include highly skilled engineers and composite technicians with attractive salaries and benefits.

The State of New Mexico is pledging US$10 million from the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) job-creation fund. The City of Albuquerque will serve as the fiscal agent and is considering providing additional funding from its local economic development fund. The construction project alone is expected to generate over 1200 jobs, and the manufacturing and distribution centre is expected to have an economic impact of over US$700 million over the next 10 years.

The economic assistance is pending support from the Albuquerque City Council and will be paid out as Universal Hydrogen reaches economic development benchmarks as agreed to in a pending Project Participation Agreement. Universal Hydrogen is also pursuing federal programmes to help scale its manufacturing and production capabilities.

Universal Hydrogen has signed a letter of intent with the City of Albuquerque for 50 of the 80 acres once occupied by a north/south runway that was decommissioned in 2012. Over the past several years, the Aviation Department’s Business Development Division has been marketing the shovel-ready site to aviation, aerospace, and R&D companies.

Universal Hydrogen is uniquely positioned to address the hydrogen value chain for aviation, both for hydrogen fuel distribution and hydrogen-powered airplanes. The company utilises proprietary capsules that safely store hydrogen during transit and serve as modular tanks that are loaded directly onto aircraft. The technology will underpin a logistics network that can move hydrogen from production facilities to airports over existing freight infrastructure, eliminating the need for costly new pipelines, tankers, and hydrogen storage facilities.

The company is also developing powertrain conversion kits to retrofit existing regional turboprop aircraft, including the Dash 8-300 and ATR 72, to enable these aircraft to fly on hydrogen. It thus far has agreements with 11 air carriers to retrofit nearly 100 regional airplanes with a goal of being FAA-certified and in commercial service by 2025.

After demonstrating success with regional aircraft, Universal Hydrogen plans to apply its modular fuelling solution to larger commercial airplanes as well as drones, industrial equipment, and ground transportation – all domains with high-carbon footprints that will require hydrogen to meet pollution-reduction goals.

The Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance, the area’s non-profit, private-sector economic development organisation, provided technical assistance for Universal Hydrogen’s expansion.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalhydrogenreview.com/hydrogen/11032022/universal-hydrogen-to-develop-manufacturing-hub-in-new-mexico/