All 40 electrolyzers at a Utah hydrogen hub reach full capacity in 2026
In February 2026, all 40 electrolyzers at a hydrogen storage hub near Delta Utah reached full operational capacity, a trade publication reports. An electrolyzer is a machine that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity, and the 220 megawatts of them at this site can now produce up to 100 metric tons of hydrogen a day. Chevron New Energies Company and Mitsubishi Power now jointly develop the project, called Advanced Clean Energy Storage, after Chevron bought into the original joint venture, Magnum Development, in 2023. The hub stores that hydrogen underground in what trade press calls the worlds largest hydrogen storage caverns, caverns an engineering firm finished drilling years earlier, in 2023.
Inside the worlds largest hydrogen storage caverns in Utah
WSP USA finished drilling and mechanical integrity testing on 2 hydrogen storage caverns at the site in May 2023, ahead of schedule, the company said in its own press release. Each cavern is carved from a salt dome, a large underground salt formation, and holds 150 gigawatt hours of energy, 300 gigawatt hours combined, inside 9 million barrels of space. Modern Power Systems, a trade publication, describes the site as the worlds largest single storage site for any type of hydrogen. The salt dome already held 5 caverns storing liquid fuels before these 2 hydrogen caverns were added, bringing the total to 7 salt caverns now operating at the site, a MAOWCE sum of those 2 figures.
The third bar is a MAOWCE sum of the first 2 figures, not a number source 3 states directly.
Show the numbers
| Liquid fuel caverns already there | 5 |
| New hydrogen caverns drilled | 2 |
| Total salt caverns now at the site | 7 |
The caverns hold room to grow
The salt dome under the site could ultimately hold 70 to 100 caverns total, Modern Power Systems reports. The 2 caverns actually drilled so far equal about 2% to 3% of that long run potential, a MAOWCE calculation from the 70 to 100 range against the count of 2, not a figure either source states directly. Scyller Borglum, underground storage leader for WSP USA, said hydrogen storage supports the wider shift away from fossil fuels, in WSP USA own 2023 press release.
Hydrogen underground storage is a key component of the hydrogen economy, which is critical in the effort to decarbonize U.S. power generation.
Scyller Borglum, underground storage leader for WSP USA. Source 3.
The federal loan and the jobs behind it
The Department of Energy backed the project with a 504.4 million dollar loan guarantee in June 2022, through its Loan Programs Office. The project is projected to create up to 400 construction jobs and 25 permanent operations jobs, figures the agency states on its own project page. Construction jobs end once building finishes, operations jobs are the ones that last after the hub runs, a ratio of about 16 construction jobs for every 1 operations job.
Construction jobs end once building finishes. Operations jobs are the permanent positions that last after the hub runs.
Show the numbers
| Construction jobs projected | 400 |
| Operations jobs projected | 25 |