St. Cloud Continues to Move Toward First In the World Facility

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud is continuing to work toward being the first city in the world to create its own green hydrogen.

Back in June of 2022, the city received a state grant of nearly $1.1 million to test the idea. Now, the city is in the final negotiations for another nearly $3.7 million grant from the United States Department of Energy. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around $9.3 million, so Public Services Director Tracy Hodel says they are applying for multiple other grants as well.

She says once they get the final approval on the federal grant they can start buying the equipment including the electrolyzer with the goal of having it up and running by the end of 2025. The city would then use the solar and biofuel that's already being generated to produce a carbon-free fuel source.

Hodel says they are basically turning a small amount of water into gases.

For example, to put it into perspective, what it takes to full someone's hot tub about 400 gallons of water can produce enough electricity to power an average household for an entire year.

Hodel says Metro Bus and New Flyer would be potential users of the green hydrogen gas produced at the facility. She says other potential uses include using it on-site to feed the boilers, or to sell the energy to Xcel Energy as a heating source.

All of the city's buildings are already carbon neutral, meaning the city produces more energy than it uses. City leaders have a goal to get the entire city to be carbon neutral in the future.

Hodel says creating its own energy instead of relying on power companies makes sense.

Not just environmentally because we know this will have an environmental impact, but financially. We're always looking for how we can produce the highest quality cost-effective public services throughout the whole entire city. We could have Xcel do it but then we're reliant on just them and we don't have control over the use and how we can integrate it into the community.

Hodel envisions a future where the city's entire fleet of vehicles from squad cars, to fire trucks, to snowplows are using the gas produced at the city's green hydrogen plant.