The U.S. Department of Energy is receiving proposals from a wide range of applicants from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to help create “hubs” that produce clean hydrogen that “has the potential to decarbonize multiple economic sectors,” including heavy-duty transportation and steel manufacturing.
A multibillion dollar plan to establish “networks of hydrogen producers, consumers, and local connective infrastructure to expedite the use of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier” was included in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law, which provided funding for the programme.
In order to achieve the president’s targets of a “100% clean electrical grid by 2035” and zero carbon emissions by the year 2050, the DOE characterised the output as “crucial.”
A $7 billion financing opportunity was made public in September by the department’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to build hydrogen hubs across the nation. The Clean Air Task Force reports that in response to the request, OCED received 79 concept papers from applicants “headed by individual enterprises, universities, nonprofits, and city/state government consortiums,” covering “every region of the United States.”
33 applicants were chosen from the 79 entries and asked to submit their final applications by Friday, April 7. Claims that using the chemical element could lessen so-called climate change are fueling efforts to advance clean hydrogen research since hydrogen consumed in a fuel cell produces only water vapour and air.
The conversion of hydrogen into fuel has thus far included arduous but generally unsuccessful efforts. President George W. Bush launched a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel plan in 2003 in an effort to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil for transportation. Obama’s administration continued to work on hydrogen fuel development but ultimately failed as well, cutting $100 million from the hydrogen fuel cell programme in 2010.
