The United States Department of Energy (DOE) reportedly encouraged the Great Lakes Clean Hydrogen coalition (GLCH) to submit a complete hydrogen hub application.
The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station at Oak Harbor, Ohio is where the coalition—which consists of Linde, Energy Harbor, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., GE Aerospace, and the University of Toledo—plans to develop low-carbon hydrogen through electrolysis. The project would deliver hydrogen via road and pipeline throughout the Great Lakes region.
One of the 33 proposals chosen to move on to the full application process was GLCH. According to DOE, a total of 79 organizations submitted concept papers. The Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program of the Department will allocate up to $7 billion to the construction of six to ten regional clean hydrogen hubs around the country.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides funding for the initiative, defines a “regional clean hydrogen hub” as “a network of clean hydrogen producers, potential clean hydrogen consumers, and connective infrastructure placed in close proximity”
The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association are two such organizations that stated they were urged to submit comprehensive hydrogen hub applications (PNWH2).
In order to develop a hydrogen economy in northern Appalachia, ARCH2 brings together more than 120 governmental agencies, utilities, universities, non-profits, and leaders from the commercial sector. The State of West Virginia, EQT Corporation, Battelle, and GTI Energy joined together to form the group.
With the assistance of Washington Governor Jay Inslee and subsequent financing from the Washington legislature, PNWH2 was established in the spring of 2022 to submit an application for the program. Members of the Oregon and Washington-based environmental community, labor, business and industry, institutions, and tribal nations make up the board of directors for PNWH2. The group anticipates a strong network of hydrogen producers and consumers, mostly in Oregon and Washington’s western and eastern regions.
DOE stated that it would not release the names of applicants who received encouragement or disapproval letters.
46 idea papers, according to the Department, were rejected for a variety of reasons, but one of the most frequent ones was that they only provided concepts for one hub element. Concept Papers that would rely on technologies unprepared for commercial-scale demonstrations were also discouraged.
