E&E News: DOE launches first-ever hydrogen hub with $12.6 billion deal
By Clare Fieseler
The Department of Energy signed a $12.6 billion agreement Wednesday with a California hydrogen hub, the first deal of its kind since the bipartisan infrastructure law was signed three years ago.
The California hub, known as ARCHES, is the first of seven hubs — which were selected by DOE in October — to ink a deal with the Biden administration. With $7 billion from the law, the administration is aiming to build out hubs that demonstrate the production and transport of “clean” hydrogen, which is not currently produced at scale in the U.S.
“California is leading the nation with the first hydrogen hub to sign a cooperative agreement, and we will continue to lead by decarbonizing goods movement, the energy sector, and heavy industry,” said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) in a statement announcing the award. “The path to achieving California’s ambitious clean energy goals runs through ARCHES, and I’m excited to see the California Hydrogen Hub kickoff with this initial round of funding.”
Angelina Galiteva, the CEO of ARCHES, said in an email that the hub can now “get to work allocating funds” to 37 proposed hydrogen projects throughout the state that are focused on “clean, renewable energy.”
According to an ARCHES statement Wednesday, the projects will play “a significant role in improving air quality and public health in many underserved communities throughout California.” A key focus will be producing “green” hydrogen made from renewables and replacing diesel-powered, heavy-duty trucks and buses with hydrogen vehicles.
Under the agreement, DOE will provide $1.2 billion. Public and private matching funds are expected to provide $11.4 billion.
As a low-carbon fuel and energy source, clean hydrogen is considered a leading contender to clean up hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors, like heavy duty trucking and shipping.
ARCHES said it’s committed to ensuring that the projects are deployed equitably and that they benefit communities that, traditionally, have “the highest pollution burden.” According to DOE, ARCHES projects would eventually result in $2.95 billion annually in decreased health care costs because of improved air quality.
The federal investment is expected to help produce clean hydrogen at ten sites. The fuel would be used to replace diesel-powered equipment at the Ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland with hydrogen fuel cell equipment. It will also aim to decarbonize much of the state’s transit system by building 60 hydrogen fueling stations that, according to ARCHES, will enable more than 5,000 fuel cell trucks and 1,000 fuel cell buses to hit the road.
ARCHES said the hub will also help transition power plants in Northern California and the Los Angeles region to 100 percent renewable hydrogen.
The announcement comes after former President Donald Trump has criticized energy funding from the infrastructure law.
“$1.2 trillion for their fake infrastructure [law]. You take a look at it — it’s fake. It’s fake, and it’s horrible,” said Trump in May at a campaign rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin. “And then all of that money [is] again going over to the Green New Scam.”
Hydrogen industry leader Frank Wolak told POLITICO’s E&E News earlier this month that the hydrogen hubs are widely supported in both blue and red states.
Wolak is president and CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association, which represents more than one hundred companies and organizations. Wolak said he expects one of the other DOE hubs based in Texas to be a clean energy “success story” for that deep-red state when it is officially launched.
Collectively, the seven hubs are expected to produce three million metric tons of hydrogen annually. According to DOE, the production will account for “nearly a third of the 2030 U.S. production target” to decarbonize America’s economy. The hubs are also expected to generate tens of thousands of middle-class jobs nationwide.
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