AIMCo, GIC, Manulife, and Ontario Teachers Back Mega Utah Green Hydrogen Project
Posted on 06/09/2022
Founded in 1998, Houston-based Haddington Ventures, LLC oversees a portfolio of U.S. conventional and renewable energy businesses. Haddington Ventures, LLC has formed Haddington ESP I, LP to provide construction equity for projects developed by the Advanced Clean Energy Storage Joint Venture (ACES Delta, LLC), which will be a massive green hydrogen platform. With this equity funding, construction can begin in June 2022, and hydrogen hub operations are scheduled to commence in 2025. The investors in Haddington ESP are Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), GIC Private Limited, Manulife Financial Corporation (Manulife) and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. In addition to the investors’ initial US$ 650 million equity commitment, they have additional rights to increase their collective investment to US$ 1.5 billion.
ACES Delta is developing the green hydrogen storage hub near Delta, Utah, with electrolyzer capacity to produce up to 100 metric tonnes per day of green hydrogen under a long-term contract with the Intermountain Power Agency (IPA). IPA is comprised of 23 Utah municipalities and owns the Intermountain Power Project (IPP). IPP supplies power to the IPA members, six rural electric cooperatives, and municipal utilities in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Burbank, and Glendale.
The initial funding from Haddington ESP will finance a project to use renewable energy resources to power 220 megawatts of electrolyzers that will split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The resulting zero-carbon green hydrogen will be stored in salt-dome storage caverns and made available on demand to IPA, which intends to utilize the hydrogen in its combined-cycle natural gas plant to generate electricity for its project participants. ACES Delta is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. and Utah-based Magnum Development LLC, a managed portfolio company of Haddington Ventures under Haddington Energy Partners III. The Haddington/Magnum team brings experience in underground salt storage development, construction, and operation while Mitsubishi Power Americas brings experience and technological support for the electrolyzers and other power related elements.
Advisors
Legal representation to Haddington ESP investors was provided by Sidley Austin LLP, while Haddington Ventures was represented by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy made a conditional commitment for approximately US$ 500 million of debt financing for Advanced Clean Energy Storage I, LLC.
Keywords: Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board.