This Monday, a multi-skilled energy company, Bakken Energy, and energy solutions company, Mitsubishi Power Americas, announced they will acquire a synthetic natural gas plant in North Dakota. Accordingly, both companies will redevelop it to produce renewable energy.
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In fact, the synthetic natural gas plant that Bakken Energy and Mitsubishi Power Americas are acquiring, the Great Plains Synfuels Plant, is financially troubled.
About the acquisition for redevelopment
Moreover, the companies said they expect the deal to purchase the Great Plains Synfuels Plant from Dakota Gasification Co. to become effective by next April 2022.
Indeed, Dakota Gasification is a subsidiary of Bismarck-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative. However, neither Bakken nor Mitsubishi Power didn’t disclose the terms of the deal.
Worth noting, the plant near Beulah is part of a proposed hub announced in June to produce clean hydrogen. Accordingly, this ecosystem will leverage green hydrogen’s a variety of uses including; for instance, powering vehicles and energy generation.
Per the announcement, Republican Gov. Doug Burgum previously hailed the project as a critical part of the state’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2030.
Similarly, officials said the hub consists of facilities that produce, store, transport, and consume carbon-free fuel. Thus, it will focus on the production of blue hydrogen, which comes from natural gas with the carbon dioxide emissions captured; and later sequestered underground or used for enhanced oil recovery.
Accordingly, officials added they hope to connect the hub by a pipeline to other hubs throughout North America.
Bakken and Mitsubishi Power on the purchase
Moreover, Bakken and Mitsubishi said the hydrogen for the project will come from natural gas produced in North Dakota’s oil fields; or on the other hand, from gas from the Dakota Gasification plant, or a mix of both.
Indeed, a reason for its sale is that the hulking plant on the prairie has struggled to compete in recent years with cheap natural gas; specifically the one available due to hydraulic fracturing in western North Dakota’s oil patch.
Previously, the plant came as a response to the energy crisis of the 1970s to make natural gas from lignite, low-grade coal that is abundant in North Dakota. Throughout the years, the plant also produced fertilizer and some liquid fuel products.
In fact, it began producing gas in 1984, but the factory’s original owners abandoned it about a year later, and the Energy Department foreclosed. Then, Basin bought the plant northwest of Bismarck in 1988 for $85 million. Accordingly, it agreed to pass on tax breaks and share revenues if natural gas prices were high enough to trigger the payments.
According to AP, DOE guaranteed $1.5 billion in construction loans for the factory. Besides, it recouped its money when unused tax credits were calculated. Lastly, Basin made its final payment to the federal government in 2010.
Finally, Bakken and Mitsubishi Power said they will retain more than 500 employees at the plant.
