Work could begin later this year or in 2024 on the building of what is officially being called the Phoenix Hydrogen Hub, a project to be built out in phases on some 920 acres of undeveloped land nearly 40 miles to the southwest of Phoenix.
The project belongs to the Phoenix-based electric vehicle manufacturer Nikola Corporation, which earlier announced that the hub will be used to help the company in its production of zero emission trucks.
A release issued late last year by Nikola said that the hub, at 28702 W. Patterson Road in the town of Buckeye, could upon completion produce up to 150 metric tons of hydrogen on a daily basis.
Now Nikola has announced that it is entering into a partnership with Fortescue Future Industries, based in East Perth, West Australia and dedicated to the building of renewable energy and green product industries, in order to get the hub built.
The partnership is seeing Fortescue outright acquiring the hub, and in the process both funding and developing it.
The acquisition, said Michael Lohscheller, chief executive officer of Nikola, will “greatly strengthen one of the country’s first and most important hydrogen hubs.”
Mark Hutchinson, chief executive director of Fortescue, in the same press release, said the acquisition represents an “exciting opportunity to work towards a fast-moving project that will lead the way in the U.S., creating new green industrial jobs for Americans, while also helping to reduce emissions once production begins.”
The Nikola/Fortescue partnership has been a long time coming. In January of this year, the two companies announced the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding focusing on the eventual co-development of large-scale green hydrogen production facilities in the U.S.
When that agreement was announced, the Nikola company noted that is has been subject to a “large demand for green hydrogen in order to decarbonize the transportation sector and other industries.”
Named after legendary inventor Nikola Tesla, the Nikola company specializes in electric semi-trucks as well as electric components, drivetrains, and hydrogen station infrastructure.
Launched in Salt Lake City in 2015, Nikola set up operations in southern Arizona in 2019. Last year, the company’s revenue came in at just under $51 million.
By Garry Boulard
