Hydrogen fuel plant may open this summer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A hydrogen fuel plant being built at Yeager Airport should be open this summer.
Members of the Kanawha County Commission are expected to get an update on the hydrogen fuel generation plant at a regular meeting Thursday. Officials for the federal Department of Energy are developing the plant to create hydrogen fuel by passing electricity through water.
“When I first heard about this, I thought it was a joke,” said Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. “But that’s what’s going to happen.”
Terry Sayre, assistant director of Yeager Airport, said airport officials have been talking with U.S. Department of Energy officials about the fuel plant for about a year. The plant is being built on a quarter-acre of land near the Federal Aviation Authority building on Eagle Mountain Road.
Sayre said the federal government is footing the bill for the plant, which will use coal-fired electricity from the John Amos power plant to create hydrogen from water supplied by West Virginia American Water Co. The hydrogen fuel will be used to power several vehicles used at the airport, and others used by the nearby West Virginia Air National Guard.
“This is one of their pilot projects for the eastern part of the United States,” Sayre said. “We’re pretty excited about getting it going.”
Sayre said airport officials will talk with officials for the Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority about getting a hydrogen-powered bus to take advantage of the fuel plant, and to officials in the county and city of Charleston about operating hydrogen-fueled vehicles.
Eventually, federal officials plan to turn the plant over to a private business owner and make hydrogen fuel available to the public. Federal officials believe the plant can produce hydrogen fuel for the equivalent of about $2.10 per gallon for conventional gasoline.
Sayre said construction should be finished on the plant by the end of August.
