Title
Membership in Hydrogen Projects Consortium
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to join as a Tier 2 ("no cost") member of a regional Hydrogen Hub consortium led by the Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy and participate in the consortium as an advisory committee member. The consortium consists of a number of Tier 1 members, those members making financial contributions, however, the City's Tier 2 membership would be at no cost to the City.
Report
Summary
Arizona State University ("ASU") launched the Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy (the "Center") to provide strategic guidance, thought leadership, research and initial project management to help Arizona and the Southwest region develop the needed infrastructure, systems and networks to move the state toward a carbon-neutral economy by mid-century. One of its initial programs is formation of a "Hydrogen Projects" consortium of regional partners including ASU, Salt River Project (“SRP”), Arizona Public Service (“APS”), Tucson Electric Power (“TEP”), University of Arizona (“UArizona”), Northern Arizona University (“NAU”) and Southwest Gas Corporation (“SWG”) seeking to leverage federal and state investments to incubate development of low-carbon hydrogen projects in the region. The founding partners provided the initial funding for the Center of $650,000 and have committed to provide ongoing funding as projects develop.
The City of Phoenix was invited to join the consortium as a Tier 2 no cost member of the Center and participate on the advisory committee to provide input on the hydrogen projects’ goals, objectives, and other activities related to hydrogen projects.
Staff recommend participation in the advisory committee to help attract federal investments to the region, represent the needs of the City in projects incubated at the Center and to help spur a local hydrogen economy that could fuel transportation, generate low-carbon electricity and reduce carbon emissions in the regional overall.
Contract Term
Participation in the advisory committee will be ongoing, however, the City is free to resign from the committee in the future if its value to the City diminishes.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Karen Peters and the Office of Sustainability.