Florida-headquartered NextEra Energy Partners has announced plans to divest its natural gas pipeline assets in order to invest up to $20 billion in green hydrogen and renewable energy.
John Ketchum, NextEra’s chair and chief executive, said the launch of the sale was instrumental to positioning the company to capitalise on green investments.
Widely regarded as the most valuable power company in the US, NextEra said that the $20 billion it plans to spend on hydrogen is the equivalent of its combined net income in the past five years.
Rebecca Kujawa, chief executive of NextEra Energy Resources, the company’s renewable energy development arm, told the Wall Street Journal the company is already fielding interest from prospective hydrogen customers.
‘Growth driver’
At a first-quarter market update Kirk Crews, NextEra’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer, said that with the right regulations green hydrogen could quickly become “a significant technology for our customes and a new growth driver for” its Energy Resources division.
The company’s hydrogen plans are largely built around solar generation but NextEra has 1.3GW of potential wind repowerings already identified and other opportunities are expected, according to Crews.
NextEra Energy Resources recently signed a memorandum of understanding CF Industries to deliver green hydrogen to its ammonia production facility. It would have a 450MW renewable energy solution powering a 40t/day hydrogen facility.
A green hydrogen pilot, the $65 million Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub, is under construction at NextEra’s Okeechobee clean energy centre in Florida and projected to go into service later this year.
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