Caliche CEO talks hydrogen and CO2 storage expansion

December 2, 2022 | The Hydrogen Source – Caliche Development Partners I has made a pair of acquisitions with the aim of expanding into growing hydrogen and CO2 storage markets in Texas and California, CEO Dave Marchese said in an interview.

The company, which is backed by Orion Infrastructure Capital and GCM Grosvenor, this week announced the purchase of Golden Triangle Storage, in Beaumont, Texas; and the anticipated acquisition of Central Valley Gas Storage, in Northern California - two regions with increasing demand for storage to support variable power loads, natural gas liquefaction, and high penetrations of renewable resources.

Caliche and seller Southern Company did not use financial advisors for the transaction. Caliche used Willkie Farr as its law firm for the financing and the transactions.

Marchese, who has a private equity background and first worked on a successful investment in a fuel cell company in the year 2000, has also racked up years of experience investing in and operating underground storage assets. Ine Calicne team developed and sold a natural gas liquios and helium storage business - called Coastal Caverns - earlier this year.

"We know how to put things underground and keep them there, including very small molecules, and we have relationships with many of the customers that are using hydrogen today," he said.

Roughly a third of the industrial CO2 emissions on the Gulf Coast come from the Golden Triangle area, a region in Southeast Texas between the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange. Much of this CO2 comes from the steam methane reformers that are within 15 miles of Caliche's newly acquired Golden Triangle asset, Marchese said. The site is in similar proximity to pipelines operated by the air companies - Air Products, Air Liquide, and Praxair - that run from Corpus Christi to New Orleans.

"We're within 15 miles of 90% of the hydrogen that's flowing in this country today." he added. "Pipeline systems need a bulk storage piece to balance flows. We can provide storage for an SMR's natural gas, storage for its hydrogen, and we can take away captured CO2 if the plant is blue."

The Golden Triangle site, which sits on the Spindletop salt dome, has room and permits for nine caverns total with two currently in natural gas service. Three of those caverns are permitted for underground gas storage "We could start a hydrogen well tomorrow if we had a customer for it," Marchese said.

The Central Valley assets in Northern California are also positioned for expansion, under the belief that the California market will need natural gas storage for some time to support the integration of renewables onto the grid, he said. Additionally, the assets have all of the safety, monitoring and verification tools for sequestration-type operations, he added, making it a good location to start exploring CO2 sequestration in California. "We think it's an expansion opportunity," he said.

"Being an operator in the natural gas market allows us to enter those other markets with a large initial capital investments already covered by cash flowing business, so it allows us to explore incrementally the hydrogen and CO2 businesses rather than having to be a new entrant and invest in all the things you need to stand up an operation."

Caliche spent $186m to acquire the two assets, following a $268m commitment from Orion and GCM. The balance of the financial commitment will support expansion.

"We're capitalized such that we have the money to permit, build, and operate wells for potential C02 sequestration customers," he said. "The relationship with these stable, large investors also meets the needs of expansion projects: if somebody wanted not only a hydrogen well but compressors as well, we have access to additional capital for underwritten projects to put those into service."