The US has fallen behind in the race towards a hydrogen economy, says a white paper published by Information Trends on Wednesday (June 22).
Information Trends’ Hydrogen Economy: The Road to a Clean Energy Future white paper, believes that the US’ lack of a clear strategy on the hydrogen economy means the country has “fallen woefully behind in the race for Net Zero targets.”
On June 7 (2022), the US Department for Energy (DOE) announced a Notice of Intent to fund the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $8bn programme to develop regional clean hydrogen hubs across the country.
Read more:Announcement puts US Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs on the Horizon
The white paper raises questions surrounding the programme’s criteria for having a minimum of one hub to produce green, blue, and pink hydrogen, rather than focusing purely on renewable hydrogen.
It says, “It is not clear why the government does not want to focus exclusively on green hydrogen. Advocates of green hydrogen contend that blue hydrogen is little more than a greenwashing method for Big Oil to continue exploiting fossil fuels.”
Additionally, the report questions the parameters for fund applicants laid out by the DOE, which defines a ‘large-project’ can produce 50-100 tonnes of hydrogen per day, equating to a minimum of 18,250 tonnes per annum.
In October 2021, Hy Stor Energy unveiled plans to develop the Mississippi Clean Hydrogen hub, independently from federal funding, which expects to produce approximately 110 million kilogrammes of green hydrogen annually.
Read more:Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub could produce 110 million kilogrammes of green hydrogen annually
Author of the white paper, Naqi Jaffery, Executive Director of Media Mores, said, “Today, we are facing a global climate emergency. Rather than be the leading voice on energy transformation, the US adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach while the world has been ploughing ahead.
“It has long been established that hydrogen is the fuel of the future. Leading industrialised countries, including Japan, China, Korea, Australia, Germany, France, the UK, and Canada have made significant strides in developing the hydrogen economy.”
Jaffery also raised concerns surrounding the definition of hydrogen hubs. He said, “In February 2022, the U.S. belatedly allocated a paltry $9.5 billion for so-called ‘hydrogen hubs’, whose meaning and purpose remains unclear.”
In recent months we have seen several US states step forward with aspirations of receiving grants to establish hydrogen hubs, including Pennsylvania, with Governor Tom Wolf stating intentions to streamline the industrial sectors decarbonisation with a hydrogen emphasis.
Read more:Pennsylvania pushes to become a clean hydrogen hub
The H2 View North America Hydrogen Summit in San Francisco on July 14-15, 2022, hopes to establish whether the $8bn hydrogen hub fund could provide a door for the US to take up a leadership role in the hydrogen economy. More information on below.
North American Hydrogen Summit
H2 View is taking its events platform to America’s original clean hydrogen hub of California. Together with the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP), we will stage our North American Hydrogen Summit in San Francisco on July 14-15.
As our summit theme Building Bridges: Hydrogen hubs and investment suggests, the event will explore the $8bn of funding announced to create at least four regional hydrogen hubs in the US. These hubs will turbo-charge the nation’s progress toward heavy trucking and industrial sectors that run without producing carbon pollution – and they may just provide the path forward to a hydrogen-fuelled future.
With California and Texas vying to be America’s hydrogen capital today, where are the hubs of tomorrow? Further still, what can other states, and countries, learn from California’s success story? And how can we build bridges to a successful flow of international investment?
If you are a member of the CaFCP, be sure to grab your ticket at a discounted rate with a code that can be provided to you by the events team.
Full information about this event including attendance and sponsorship packages can be found here.
