Geo H2 RFI_23 Sept 24.pdf

Geologic Hydrogen Resource Assessment and Characterization Request for Information

Air Force Office of Energy Assurance

This Request for Information (RFI) is for market research purposes.

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) is seeking capability information for the subject RFI from all interested parties. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), RFI responses are not offers and cannot be accepted by the government to form a binding contract. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a request for proposals. Respondents will not be reimbursed for costs incurred in responding to this RFI.

DAF is exploring the feasibility of a competitive solicitation to prototype the assessment of geologic hydrogen resource availability, extractability, and economic viability on Air Force installations within the continental United States (CONUS) and outside the continental United States (OCONUS).

Note: DAF is neither obligated to acknowledge receipt of the information received nor to provide feedback to responses. Based on the responses submitted, DAF may choose, at its own discretion, to reach out to individual respondents for further clarifying information.

RFI PURPOSE

Department of Defense (DoD) installations rely on complex energy supply chains to support global national security missions in air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. This dependence comes with risks resulting from service disruptions, maintenance issues, extreme weather, and attacks by determined adversaries that may impact DoD’s ability to maintain mission continuity. The need for mission continuity is so vital to national security that congress mandated that all DoD mission critical loads be 99.9% (or more for specified missions) energy resilient by 2030 (see 10 U.S.C. §2920).

DAF installations rely heavily on diesel-fueled backup generators to serve critical loads in the event of an interruption to electricity services. However, diesel generation provides limited on-base resilience and has risks associated with generator reliability and maintenance, diesel fuel supply chains, and local impacts of noise and exhaust.

To answer Congress’s call to action, maintain mission continuity, and protect the health of our service members, DAF seeks more reliable, locally sourced, and clean power sources. Geologic hydrogen can fuel long-duration dispatchable power for prime and backup generation assets while strengthening U.S. energy independence, limiting installation dependence on the outside grid and external supply chains, and improving the air quality for those on and around the installation.

Accordingly, DAF is conducting market research to determine whether geologic hydrogen exists under Air Force Installations, whether extraction is feasible, and how businesses are navigating an undefined regulatory environment.

RESPONSE SUBMISSION

Format The narrative response to this RFI shall be prepared in 12-point Times New Roman font, and with one-inch margins on all sides. Graphs, photos, and tables must be clear and legible. Reports or articles can be referenced or included as appendices; however, no hyperlinks are allowed.

Responses should not exceed 50-pages, including all attachments. Vendors are encouraged to submit joint RFI responses with partners who have the capabilities and expertise needed to assess geologic hydrogen resources.

It is not required that you answer all the questions below. We are trying to get as much information as possible but if something does not apply to your business, simply ignore the question, and answer those questions that you can provide a meaningful response for.

Questions

1. Profile

a. Please provide the following information on your organization:

i. Name

ii. Address

iii. Points of contact: email address, telephone number

iv. Unique Entity Identification (e.g., EIN) & CAGE Code

v. Business size and organization type (e.g., Small Business, Large Nonprofit, Academia)

vi. Status and level of facility clearance held (e.g., Active, None, Top Secret)

2. General

a. What method(s) do you use to characterize geologic hydrogen resource existence?

i. Non-invasive methods without access to the land area (e.g., desktop analysis)

ii. Non-invasive methods with access to the land area (e.g., air sensing)

iii. Minimally invasive methods (e.g., seismic sensing)

iv. Fully invasive non-restrictive methods (e.g., test wells)

b. What has the greatest influence on the economic viability of extracting geological hydrogen? (e.g., environmental considerations, capital costs of early-stage technologies, geologic conditions)

c. Which of these potential scope elements can your company or team perform?

i. Extraction

ii. Processing for final usage

iii. Storage

iv. Transportation

v. Electricity generation

vi. Interconnection of generation assets to the electric grid or existing on-site infrastructure

3. Evaluating Resource Existence

a. What is the process, including data sources, technologies, and expertise needed, that your firm uses to evaluate geologic hydrogen resource existence?

i. Without invasive measures and without access to the land area?

ii. Without invasive measures, but with access to the land area?

iii. With minimally invasive measures?

iv. Without any restrictions?

b. Are your described processes above theoretical or are there example projects your firm has done which successfully or unsuccessfully employed these processes? List all relevant projects and describe.

4. Partners

a. Do you partner with any of the following groups? If so, who specifically?

i. Engineering and construction firms

ii. Academia or NGOs

iii. General industry

iv. State and local government

v. Federal government

vi. Financiers (e.g., banks, private equity, angel investors)

b. Do you have any existing teaming agreements in place? If so, please specify.

5. Market Area

a. What regions of the continental United States (CONUS) are most likely to have large quantities of geologic hydrogen or are of most interest to your business?

b. What regions outside of the Continental United States (OCONUS) but within the US are most likely to have large quantities of geologic hydrogen or are of most interest to your business?

c. Are you exploring business opportunities outside of the United States? If yes, where?

6. Air Force

a. What Air Force installations (CONUS or OCONUS) are most likely to have geologic hydrogen deposits underneath or nearby the property fence line?

b. What would make a partnership with the Air Force to assess, extract, and use geologic hydrogen attractive to your company?

c. What concerns and challenges do you foresee encountering with working on federal and military lands?

d. Are you familiar with 10 U.S.C. § 4022 prototyping authority?

e. If geologic hydrogen is identified at Air Force installation(s), and can be safely extracted under a prototype,

i. What is the minimum percentage of sampled gas or general size of the deposit that would interest you to enter into a follow-on off-take agreement?

ii. What type of contract would you use for an off-take agreement of the hydrogen commodity and how would you structure the contract? (e.g. PPA)

iii. What terms, conditions or other agreements would entice you enter into an off-take agreement with the Air Force?

7. State and Local Government

a. What states have the most advanced regulatory framework for geologic hydrogen?

b. Has hydrogen been defined in any state statute as a gas, mineral, or any other type of resource?

c. What financial incentives (e.g., grants, low-interest loans, tax credits) exist at the state and local level for geologic hydrogen? Include instances where incentive eligibility has not been clarified to include geologic hydrogen.

8. Federal Government

a. Has hydrogen been defined in any federal statute as a gas, mineral, or any other type of resource?

b. Are you familiar with NEPA and other environmental regulations that may create requirements for assessing or extracting geologic hydrogen?

c. What financial incentives (e.g., grants, low-interest loans, tax credits) exist at the federal level for geologic hydrogen? Include instances where incentive eligibility has not been clarified to include geologic hydrogen.

9. International Governments

a. What countries have the most advanced regulatory framework for geologic hydrogen?

b. Outside of the United States, has hydrogen been defined in any statutes as a gas, mineral, or any other type of resource?

c. Are there any unique environmental regulations that may create requirements for assessing or extracting geologic hydrogen for projects outside of the United States?

d. What financial incentives (e.g., grants, low-interest loans, tax credits) exist for geologic hydrogen outside of the United States? Include instances where incentive eligibility has not been clarified to include geologic hydrogen.

10. Catch-all:

a. Please discuss any other issues that the vendor and its partners would like to highlight to help ensure this potential opportunity is as accessible and attractive as possible.

Business Sensitive, Proprietary, Or Otherwise Confidential Information:

Responses must be marked as proprietary or restricted data. Responses will not be shared with any other respondent. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the market research. DAF may use responses to this RFI in creating a future solicitation. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude submitting a proposal in response to a future solicitation.

NOTE: Responses will be shared and reviewed with non-government advisors to this project.

Booz Allen Hamilton provides Advisory and Assistance (A&AS) contractors to the AF Office of Energy Assurance. There may be additional non-government advisors reviewing the response as well.

Response Date and Time:

Interested parties must provide the requested information by 3:00 PM ET, October 25, 2024, to kristina.botelho@us.af.mil. There should only be a single file submitted. If there are multiple documents you must combine into one document. Please save the file as and address the email subject line as, “GEO H2 RFI _Company Name.”

Other contact information is as follows:

Primary point of contact:

Department of the Air Force Attn: Kristina Botelho EMAIL: kristina.botelho@us.af.mil mailto:kristina.botelho@us.af.mil