First Mode, the clean-energy company that was recently transformed from a Seattle startup into an Anglo American subsidiary, is getting a boost from Washington state.
The Washington State Department of Commerce awarded $250,000 in economic development funding to the Economic Alliance of Lewis County to help First Mode with design and construction costs related to the company’s future facility in Centralia, Wash.
First Mode is planning to turn a former coal mine site, leased from TransAlta, into a proving grounds for its hydrogen-fueled hybrid powertrain for heavy mining trucks. The building plan calls for providing 7,500 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of outdoor yard space, with an option for expansion.
The powertrains have been under development at First Mode’s lab in Seattle, and last year a prototype truck made its debut at a platinum mine in South Africa.
Eventually, Anglo American plans to have First Mode convert hundreds of ultra-class haul trucks to run on hydrogen and battery power. The technology for the trucks and the fueling and charging infrastructure will be tested at the Centralia site.
First Mode shifted its headquarters from Seattle to London in the wake of its $1.5 billion transaction with Anglo American, a global mining company. Despite the HQ move, First Mode CEO Julian Soles said the Pacific Northwest is the perfect place for the company’s proving grounds.
“The extensive knowledge and experience of the Centralia community, coupled with Washington state’s leadership on clean energy innovation, are key to the success of First Mode’s work,” Soles said today in a news release. “We started with retrofitting a diesel engine with a clean energy powerplant in a single haul truck. We are now scaling our capabilities and deployments to move the mining industry another step closer to decarbonization.”
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee talked up the Pacific Northwest’s role in pioneering clean energy. “No other U.S. region is better positioned to tackle the game-changing challenge of developing and commercializing technologies for decarbonizing heavy industry,” he said.
First Mode focused primarily on engineering solutions for space missions when it was founded in 2018, but as time went on, it pivoted to clean-energy tech and attracted Anglo American’s attention. The business combination, which was finalized in January, merged First Mode with Anglo American’s NuGen effort to develop zero-emission haul trucks.
Richard DeBolt, executive director of the Economic Alliance of Lewis County, said First Mode’s Centralia project “is the beginning of understanding new technology.”
“It brings Lewis County into the future of the Hydrogen Valley and will create opportunity clusters for the future,” DeBolt said.
A nonprofit public-private partnership called the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association is preparing a proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy for a potential $1 billion investment in a regional clean hydrogen hub in the Pacific Northwest.
Meanwhile, an Australian company, Fortescue Future Industries, has been evaluating the feasibility of setting up a green hydrogen production facility at the Centralia mine site — and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Puget Sound Energy to accelerate the transition to clean energy in the Pacific Northwest.
