The Nebraska Public Power District has begun designing and planning for the conversion of a coal-fueled power plant to a hydrogen-fueled source of electricity.

The Sheldon Station, located outside of Hallam, Nebraska, will eliminate coal in favor of hydrogen in an effort reduce around a million tons of CO2 emissions. The change was announced last year.

NPPD partnered with Monolith Materials, a company that produces excess amounts of hydrogen as a byproduct of manufacturing carbon black. The Monolith factory, currently under construction, will provide the hydrogen and help with the conversion project.

Mark Becker, a spokesman for NPPD, said the conversion project will benefit the community and the state.

"There's going to be a number of jobs in the community," Becker said. "I know the mayor of Hallam is well-tuned into the project itself, so I think there's just an anticipation of actually starting to see things happen."

Becker said the overall conversion is expected to be complete around 2021 or 2022. The original manufacturer of the boiler design, Babcock & Wilcox, has been selected to design the first phase of the conversion.