New Agreement Between Argonne National Laboratory, Constellation to Focus on Hydrogen Power

The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Constellation have entered into a six-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to develop carbon-free power generation technology through a variety of initiatives. Both organizations are looking into the economics of hydrogen as an alternative energy source, evaluating demand and the potential impacts of production, storage and delivery. According to Colleen Wright, Constellation’s vice president of corporate strategy, joining the company’s carbon-free energy resources with electrolysis technologies and Argonne’s technical expertise could pave the way for the decarbonization of certain industries.

The agreement’s most lasting legacy could be the avenue it paves for energy grid decarbonization through innovation, Argonne said.

Mark Petri, the lab’s grid security and resilience lead, said the agreement could give direction to Argonne’s R&D efforts as it provides staff more insight into actual industry needs.

Constellation and Argonne are specifically aiming to study the storage and transport capacity of hydrogen produced from nuclear energy. At present, Argonne is searching for a way to make that energy source more affordable, employing systems based upon artificial intelligence. Under a three-year, $1 million program, the lab aims to build AI that can detect problems early and provide recommendations for possible solutions.