LOS ANGELES — At a construction site along the Los Angeles River, just south of where four freeways converge in Vernon, a crane hoisted a set of massive white pipes into the air on a recent weekday morning.

The pipes will eventually be connected to fuel dispensers where they will serve as storage vessels for hydrogen — a growing yet controversial source of energy that some see as key to California’s ambitious climate goals.

The site is being developed by a New Jersey-based company called Avina in partnership with Vernon Public Utilities. When completed this October, it is planned to produce up to 4 metric tons of compressed green hydrogen a day to power heavy-duty trucks and buses, helping to clean up one of the worst polluting sectors in the state.

The facility is expected to eliminate

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