CHEHALIS, Wash. – July 28, 2026 – PRLog — Lewis County Hydrogen Alliance, Inc. (LCH2) today announced the launch of Phase 1 project assessment work for the Lewis County Forestry Residuals to Fuel-Grade Hydrogen & Dispatchable Clean Power project, supported in part by a grant from the Centralia Coal Transition Board.
The initial $400,000 Phase 1 award supports a project assessment package including, site diligence, concept engineering, a permitting roadmap, commercialization planning, and capital-readiness analysis. The work is designed to determine the necessary parameters for the project to move from Project Assessment into detailed engineering, pilot development and private-capital deployment.
The project’s objective is to convert locally available forestry residuals into fuel-grade hydrogen, captured carbon dioxide or carbon-based products, and dispatchable clean power without burning the feedstock. The platform is being developed for transportation fleets, industrial users and energy-intensive operations that need reliable clean power, including potential self-sufficient data-center infrastructure. By transforming an underutilized local biomass resource into multiple high-value clean energy products, the project demonstrates a pathway to greater local energy resilience, strengthening forest health and supporting rural economic development. With Lewis County at the forefront, LCH2 is laying the foundation for a scalable, replicable model that can help communities across Washington and advance clean energy and decarbonization goals.
LCH2 is serving as the coordinating nonprofit and grant recipient. The Devonshire Group is supporting delivery management, biomass supply-chain assessment, and stakeholder coordination. Ways2H is providing thermochemical conversion technology and engineering support. HydrogenXT is supporting project development, commercialization, offtake strategy and integration with hydrogen fuel and power customers.
— Ken Cavallon, Executive Director of LCH2, said:
Lewis County has the forest resources, the energy-transition need and the industrial know-how to become a national proving ground for clean hydrogen from forest residuals.
“Phase 1 is about discipline: validate the site, the feedstock, the engineering, the permits, the customers and the capital pathway before anyone asks the community or investors to take the next step. We are grateful that the Centralia Coal Transition Grants Energy Technology Board share our vision for a more sustainable future for our region.”
— Jean-Louis Kindler, Co-Founder & Director of Ways2H, said:
This project is a powerful fit for the Ways2H platform because it focuses on a real local resource, a real clean-fuel need and a phased pathway to commercial deployment.
“Our role is to help translate the technology into a practical, financeable system that can turn underused biomass into hydrogen fuel and carbon products.”
— Skip Sponsel, Vice President of The Devonshire Group, said:
Forestry residuals are often treated as a disposal problem.
“LCH2 is asking a better question: how can that material become a durable source of regional economic value, forest resilience and clean energy? That is the kind of implementation challenge The Devonshire Group was built to help solve.”
— Karl Tussy, Chief Customer Officer of HydrogenXT, said:
The commercial opportunity is not just producing hydrogen; it is connecting clean hydrogen fuel to customers who can use it reliably and economically.
“HydrogenXT is focused on helping this project develop the offtake, customer and integration pathway needed to move from promising assessment to bankable deployment.”
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Lewis County Hydrogen Alliance Launches Phase 1 Work to Turn Forest Residuals into Fuel-Grade Hydrogen and Dispatchable Clean Power, source
Facts Only
* Lewis County Hydrogen Alliance, Inc. announced the launch of Phase 1 project assessment work for the Lewis County Forestry Residuals to Fuel-Grade Hydrogen & Dispatchable Clean Power project on July 28, 2026.
* The work is supported in part by a grant from the Centralia Coal Transition Board.
* The initial award is $400,000 for a project assessment package including site diligence, concept engineering, a permitting roadmap, commercialization planning, and capital-readiness analysis.
* The objective is to convert locally available forestry residuals into fuel-grade hydrogen, captured carbon dioxide or carbon-based products, and dispatchable clean power without burning the feedstock.
* The platform is being developed for transportation fleets, industrial users, energy-intensive operations, and potential data-center infrastructure.
* Lewis County aims to create a scalable model for clean energy from forest residuals.
* The Devonshire Group supports delivery management, biomass supply-chain assessment, and stakeholder coordination.
* Ways2H provides thermochemical conversion technology and engineering support.
* HydrogenXT supports project development, commercialization, offtake strategy, and integration with hydrogen fuel and power customers.
Executive Summary
Lewis County Hydrogen Alliance, Inc. launched Phase 1 project assessment work for the Lewis County Forestry Residuals to Fuel-Grade Hydrogen & Dispatchable Clean Power project, funded in part by a grant from the Centralia Coal Transition Board. The initial $400,000 award covers site diligence, concept engineering, permitting roadmap, commercialization planning, and capital-readiness analysis. The project aims to convert local forestry residuals into fuel-grade hydrogen, captured carbon dioxide, or carbon-based products and dispatchable clean power without burning the feedstock. This platform is intended for transportation fleets, industrial users, and energy-intensive operations needing reliable clean power, including potential data-center infrastructure. The initiative seeks to transform underutilized biomass into multiple high-value clean energy products, aiming to enhance local energy resilience, forest health, and rural economic development in Lewis County.
The project involves several partners: Lewis County Hydrogen Alliance, Inc. coordinates the effort. The Devonshire Group manages delivery, biomass supply-chain assessment, and stakeholder coordination. Ways2H provides thermochemical conversion technology and engineering support. HydrogenXT supports project development, commercialization, offtake strategy, and customer integration. Stakeholders emphasized that Phase 1 is focused on validating the site, feedstock, engineering, permits, customers, and capital pathway before moving to detailed development.
Full Take
The narrative positions the transformation of forestry residuals not merely as an environmental offset, but as a convergence point for regional economic resilience, energy infrastructure, and resource management. The structure carefully frames technical assessment—site diligence, engineering, permitting—as the essential discipline required before seeking investment or community buy-in. This sequence suggests that tangible, de-risked data is the necessary catalyst for realizing socio-economic benefits, implicitly challenging the notion that large-scale sustainable projects can bypass rigorous upfront planning.
The involvement of multiple specialized entities (technology provider Ways2H, supply chain management Devonshire Group, customer integration HydrogenXT) demonstrates a complex attempt to bridge the gap between raw resource potential and market deployment. The quoted perspectives highlight a shift in framing: moving from viewing residuals as a "disposal problem" to seeing them as a durable source of regional economic value and forest resilience. This pattern reveals a systemic challenge inherent in resource management: how to transition from linear consumption models to circular economies while ensuring local communities benefit directly.
The potential tension lies between the aspirational goal—a scalable model for clean energy and rural development—and the practical necessity of navigating complex regulatory and capital hurdles. The emphasis on "discipline" during Phase 1 suggests an awareness that market appetite alone is insufficient; there must be a credible, engineered pathway to transform environmental assets into deployable energy products. This signals a pattern where achieving true sustainability requires integrating technical rigor with economic and social frameworks simultaneously, demanding holistic solutions rather than siloed technological fixes.
Bridge Questions: What specific metrics will define the success of connecting biomass supply chains to clean energy distribution? How can the financing structure be designed to ensure that the localized economic benefits are prioritized equally with the technology development timelines? What mechanisms are necessary to prevent the essential challenge of resource value from being overlooked in favor of purely energy-focused metrics?