Paul Rodden • Season: 2024 • Episode: 368
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
Episode 368, In this episode, Paul covers the DOE’s $2.2 billion funding for Gulf Coast and Midwest hydrogen hubs, highlighting their potential to drive decarbonization and create thousands of jobs. He also previews Hydrogen North America 2024, detailing must-see panels and presentations shaping the future of hydrogen.
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Paul Rodden
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Transcript:
Two more US hydrogen hubs get federal dollars in the billions, and one of my favorite conferences is coming up in just over a week. I’ll go through this news and give you what I think will be the highlights of the conference on today’s hydrogen podcast.
So the big questions in the energy industry today are, how is hydrogen the primary driving force behind the evolution of energy. Where is capital being deployed for hydrogen projects globally, and where are the best investment opportunities for early adopters who recognize the importance of hydrogen? I will address the critical issues and give you the information you need to deploy capital. Those are the questions that will unlock the potential of hydrogen, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Paul Rodden, and welcome to the hydrogen podcast.
First up today in a press release from the US Department of Energy’s Office of clean energy demonstrations, DOE announces awards for up to $2.2 billion for two regional clean hydrogen hubs. As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced up to $2.2 billion in award commitments for two Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) that will help accelerate the commercial-scale deployment of low-cost, clean hydrogen—a valuable energy product that can be produced with zero or near-zero carbon emissions. The two awardees—Gulf Coast H2Hub and Midwest H2Hub—are critical pillars of DOE’s H2Hubs program, which was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to kickstart a national network of clean hydrogen producers, consumers, and connective infrastructure while supporting the production, storage, delivery, and end-use of clean hydrogen. Building a strong and equitable domestic clean hydrogen economy is a key component of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ plan to strengthen America’s economic competitiveness, create new good-paying, high-quality jobs, and slash harmful emissions that jeopardize public health and pollute local ecosystems.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has followed through on its promise to kickstart a new domestic hydrogen industry that can produce fuel from almost any energy resource in virtually every part of the country and that can power heavy duty vehicles, heat homes, and fertilize crops,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Today’s announcement marks a major milestone in DOE’s Hydrogen Hubs program, signaling our deep commitment to strengthening America’s energy security and boosting our economic and global competitiveness while also tackling the climate crisis.”
As part of the H2Hubs program, DOE is committing up to $1.2 billion of federal cost share for the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub—led by HyVelocity (HyV) and up to $1 billion of federal cost share for the Midwest Hydrogen Hub—led by the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen LLC (MachH2). These awards follow three previously awarded H2Hubs, and together, they will help drive private sector investment in clean hydrogen, setting the nation on a course to hit critical long-term decarbonization objectives.
Clean hydrogen is a flexible energy carrier that can be produced from a diverse mix of domestic energy resources, including renewables, nuclear, and fossil resources with carbon capture. Its unique characteristics will allow the H2Hubs to substantially reduce harmful emissions from some of the most energy-intensive sectors of the economy, such as chemical and industrial processes and heavy-duty transportation, while creating new economic opportunities across the country. It could also be used as a form of long-duration energy storage to support the expansion of renewable power. By enabling the development of diverse, domestic energy pathways across multiple sectors of the economy, clean hydrogen will strengthen American energy independence and accelerate the American manufacturing boom.
Now the first project is the Gulf Coast hydrogen hub By creating a balanced portfolio of producers and consumers, the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub plans to leverage the Gulf Coast region’s abundant renewable energy and natural gas supply to drive down the cost of hydrogen—a crucial piece to achieving market liftoff. Through its core projects, the Hub proposes to produce clean hydrogen from both water through electrolysis and from natural gas while utilizing carbon capture and storage. These proposed investments in clean hydrogen aim to catalyze regional decarbonization solutions and contribute to lifting off the U.S. national clean hydrogen network. This H2Hub is expected to create approximately 45,000 direct jobs over the project’s lifetime.
The other project is the Midwest hydrogen hub, and it’s located in a key U.S. industrial and transportation corridor, the Hub plans to leverage the region’s diverse energy sources (including renewable wind energy, natural gas, and nuclear energy) to support the decarbonization of industries including steel and glass production, manufacturing, power generation, refining, and heavy-duty transportation across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan. The Midwest Hydrogen Hub anticipates creating approximately 12,000 direct jobs over the project’s lifetime.
DOE’s investment in the H2Hubs program is one of the largest investments in clean manufacturing and jobs in history. This transformative federal investment will be matched by recipients to leverage billions of dollars to strengthen local economies, create and maintain high-quality jobs, and position America as the global leader in emerging energy industries.
The seven selected H2Hubs are expected to collectively produce millions of metric tons of hydrogen annually, thereby getting us closer to reaching the 2030 U.S. production target and lowering emissions from hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors that represent 30 percent of total U.S. carbon emissions. Together, they will also reduce tens of millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from end-uses each year—an amount roughly equivalent to combined annual emissions of millions gasoline-powered cars—and create and retain tens of thousands of good-paying jobs across the country while supporting healthier communities.
As part of the President’s commitments to invest in America’s workforce, support high-quality American jobs, advance environmental and energy justice, and strengthen Tribal energy sovereignty, each H2Hub was required to develop and ultimately implement comprehensive community benefits commitments—which will be informed by early and meaningful community and labor engagements in each region. DOE will co-host virtual community-level briefings for each awarded H2Hub to provide local communities with a forum to learn about and provide input on the selected projects.
DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) manages the H2Hubs program and will provide project management oversight for the projects selected to produce clean hydrogen; demonstrate end uses; generate training opportunities and good-paying, high-quality jobs; reduce emissions and pollution; and ensure tangible benefits flow to local Hub communities. Through its phased approach to project management oversight, OCED will review and evaluate the Hub’s progress, including toward community benefits, which impact OCED’s decision to continue to provide federal funding and allow a project to progress to the next phase.
Okay, so big news as two more US hydrogen hubs get federal funding, in this case, up to $2.2 billion and I would also say that it’s great to see that the high velocity Gulf Coast hydrogen hub is a part of this consideration, especially since groups like Chevron, ExxonMobil and Orsted are part of this group, meaning it’s also highly likely that they could be seeing a good chunk of the 45v tax incentives for the hydrogen that they’re producing, of course, that is speculation right now, but it is really possible. And we’re also looking at the creation and deployment of up to 57,000
jobs for these two projects that will make a very real impact in these two communities, as well as what I believe will be several billion dollars more of private investments going directly to these hubs.
Now, before I sign off today, I want to talk about the hydrogen North America 2024 Conference, which is going to be happening December 4 and 5th, here in Houston, Texas, and it is the premier event for anyone invested in the future of hydrogen. It’s going to be bringing together leaders and innovators across the hydrogen value chain, and this conference offers two action packed days of keynotes, panel discussions and interactive sessions focused on advancing low carbon hydrogen production in North America, with opportunities to explore cutting edge innovations, network with industry peers and gain actionable insights from experts. This event is the perfect platform to shape the future of hydrogen and drive meaningful progress in the energy transition. One of the standout presentations at hydrogen North America 2024 is set to tackle a topic that’s both timely and fascinating, which is powering data centers with clean hydrogen generation and storage solutions as the demand for AI and cloud computing continues to surge, data centers are under immense pressure to scale sustainably, this session will explore how green hydrogen can revolutionize energy strategies for these facilities, offering a clean, reliable and scalable solution to reduce carbon footprints while maintaining 24/7 operations. The speaker for this session is Richard Voorberg, President of North America for Siemens Energy, who will share insights into the latest advancements in hydrogen generation and storage technologies and how they can be integrated with renewable resources to future-proof energy demands. If you’re curious about the intersection of digital infrastructure and clean energy, this is a presentation you won’t want to miss!
Another must-see session at Hydrogen North America 2024 is the panel on Facilitating Hydrogen Adoption in Heavy Industries. This discussion dives into the strategies and challenges of bringing hydrogen to sectors like steel, cement, and chemicals, while exploring collaboration opportunities to create long-term partnerships.
The panel features Sunny Punj (CGI Gases), Kieran Coleman (CWP Global), Tony White (Siemens), and Jamie Cohen (Dow), with Michael Jung from Modern Hydrogen moderating. It’s a great opportunity to learn how hydrogen is shaping the future of these essential industries!
Another exciting panel at Hydrogen North America 2024 is Secure Offtake and Strategies for Demand Creation.This session will focus on how to structure long-term offtake agreements that bring financial stability to hydrogen projects and explore technologies driving demand in key end-use sectors.
The panel includes Jaime Casasus-Bribian (EE North America), Roman Dzombak (ENGIE), Antonio Fayad (EDP Renewables), and Donald Hubbert (Fortescue Energy), moderated by Steve Capanna from the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s a can’t-miss discussion for anyone focused on scaling hydrogen demand!
Just to let everyone know we’ll be recording interviews with industry leaders, capturing their insights, and bringing you the latest from the conference floor. Whether you’re attending or following from afar, stay tuned for exclusive content straight from the heart of this transformative event. If you’re there, stop by and connect with us, we’d love to hear how we can help you grow in the hydrogen space!
All right, that’s it for me, everyone. If you have a second, I would really appreciate it. If you could leave a good review on whatever platform it is that you listen to Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, YouTube, whatever it is, that would be a tremendous help to the show. And as always, if you ever have any feedback, you’re welcome to email me directly at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com. So until next time, keep your eyes up and honor one another. Hey, this is Paul. I hope you liked this podcast. If you did and want to hear more. I’d appreciate it if you would either subscribe to this channel on YouTube, or connect with your favorite platform through my website at www.thehydrogenpodcast.com. Thanks for listening. I very much appreciate it. Have a great day.
