In March, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced that $750 million is being invested into 52 hydrogen energy projects across 24 states. The goal is to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen and “reinforce America’s global leadership in the growing clean hydrogen industry.” The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and will be directed toward producing and manufacturing electrolysis technology, clean hydrogen systems, and boosting American manufacturing employment.
It is the latest step in the current administration’s National Clean Energy Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap. This guide was released in June 2023 to explain how the government plans to expand clean hydrogen production.
By 2030, the roadmap points to 10 million metric tons of clean hydrogen produced annually and ready for use and 50 million metric tons annually by 2050.
The Strategy and Roadmap identifies communities and industries that would benefit greatly from hydrogen energy. Tribal communities, national laboratories, academia, commercial sectors, and the federal government will need to collaborate to deploy this renewable energy.
“The projects announced today — funded by the President’s Investing in America agenda — will supercharge our progress and ensure our leadership in clean hydrogen will be felt across the nation for generations to come,” Jennifer Granholm, energy secretary, said in a statement.
The first $316 million will go toward projects focusing on an inexpensive, high-output electrolyzer development. The next $150 million will fund the manufacturing of fuel cell assembly, and $82 million will help create the fuel cell supply chain. Another $81 million will fund the electrolyzer component production and its supply chain. The next $72 million goes toward advanced technology, and the final $50 million goes toward the hydrogen recovery and recycling consortium.
This investment follows a $7 billion project to open six to 10 regional clean hydrogen hubs across the U.S.
This effort is one of three key areas the Strategy and Roadmap prioritizes, along with target-impact uses for hydrogen energy and cost reduction.
Tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are considered a factor in expanding clean hydrogen systems. Most clean hydrogen still requires fossil fuel use in some capacity, often from liquified natural gas. More solar energy systems are becoming efficient enough to operate as microgrids. With domestic solar systems discounted by the IRA, it is believed the DOE can reach its target of producing clean hydrogen at $1 per kilogram.
Photo Courtesy Sander Yigin
“By supporting the expansion of domestic fuel cell manufacturing capacity to 14 gigawatts (GW) per year, these projects will help enable production of enough fuel cells to power 50,000 medium- and heavy-duty trucks annually — nearly 15% of yearly sales,” DOE explained in its press release. “Similarly, by supporting domestic electrolyzer manufacturing, these projects are expected to enable production of up to 10 GW of electrolyzers per year, which is equivalent to adding 1.3 million metric tons to our annual clean hydrogen production capacity.”
With more hydrogen-powered vehicles entering logistics and freight hauling, more alternative fuel corridors will need hydrogen refueling and electric truck charging stations. Supporting more hydrogen energy development can help the U.S. on its path of steady decarbonization, especially in areas like transportation, one of the country’s biggest sources of carbon dioxide emissions.
