Energy Department Unveils Plan Using Hydrogen Energy to Cut US Emissions by 10 Percent

June 06, 2023

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by Rachel Frazin (The Hill) The Energy Department on Monday unveiled a roadmap it says will, using hydrogen energy, enable the U.S. to reduce its emissions by 10 percent in 2050, compared to 2005 levels.

The strategy document calls for specifically targeting hydrogen use in key industries, including chemicals, steel, refining and heavy transportation, where the energy source can have the greatest emissions reduction impact.

It also outlines a need to make hydrogen energy cheaper and to focus on regional hubs.

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The strategy from the Biden administration focuses specifically on hydrogen energy that’s formed using carbon-free sources, which the administration is calling clean hydrogen.

However, there has been some debate as to whether — to be truly clean — hydrogen plants need to use new sources of energy or if they can take electrons currently on the grid. Opponents of using existing energy argue doing so could result in existing energy being replaced with fossil power, but supporters say requiring new energy would be overly burdensome.

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Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm demurred when asked to wade into that debate on Monday.

“It’s a really important consideration, and it’s something that I know we’re weighing,” she said, adding that the administration is looking at the issue for a hydrogen hub program and for hydrogen tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Treasury’s guidance hasn’t come out yet as you’re aware, and so that question about additionality will be part of it, and it’s a very important part because we want to make sure that truly we reduce CO2 emissions … so stay tuned,” she added, referring to a forthcoming tax credit guidance. READ MORE

Biden-Harris Administration Releases First-Ever National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap to Build a Clean Energy Future, Accelerate American Manufacturing Boom (U.S. Department of Energy)

U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap (U.S. Department of Energy)

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………..………….. 1
Legislative Language …………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….. 3
Foreword …………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………….. 5
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………….. 6
A: National Decarbonization Goals ………………………………………………………………….……..………… 10
H2@Scale Enabler for Deep Decarbonization ……………………………………………..……………..………….. 12
Hydrogen Production and Use in the United States ……………………..…………………………..………….. 14
Opportunities for Clean Hydrogen to Support Net-Zero …..…………………………………..………….. 17
Challenges to Achieving the Benefits of Clean Hydrogen …..…………………………………..………….. 24
B: Strategies to Enable the Benefits of Clean Hydrogen ……..…………………………………………… 27
Strategy 1: Target Strategic, High-Impact Uses of Clean Hydrogen ………………………………..……… 29
Clean hydrogen in industrial applications ……………………………..…………………………………..……… 29
Clean hydrogen in transportation ……………………………..……………………….………………………………..……… 32
Power sector applications ……………………………..………………………………………….…..…………………………… 34
Carbon Intensity of Hydrogen Production ……………………………..…………………………………..……… 36
Strategy 2: Reduce the Cost of Clean Hydrogen ……………………………..…………………………………..……… 39
Hydrogen Production Through Water Splitting ……………………………..…………………………………..……… 40
Hydrogen Production from Fossil Fuels with Carbon Capture and Storage .……………………..……… 42
Hydrogen Production from Biomass and Waste Feedstocks ……………………….…………………..……… 45
Other System Costs ……………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………… 45
Strategy 3: Focus on Regional Networks ……………………………..……………………………………………..……… 48
Regional production potential ……………………………..………………………………………………………..……… 50
Regional storage potential ……………………………..…………………………………………………………………..……… 52
Regional end-use potential……………………………..…………………………………………………………………..……… 54
Supporting Each Strategy ……………………………..…………………………………………………………………..……… 56
C: Guiding Principles and National Actions ………………………………………………………………..……… 58
Guiding Principles ……………………………..……………………………………..…………………………..…………..……… 58
Actions Supporting the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap ..………………… 61
Actions and Milestones for the Near, Mid, and Long-term ……………………………..…….……………… 68
Phases of Clean Hydrogen Development ……………………………..…………………………………..………………… 73
Collaboration and Coordination ……………………………..……………………………………..………………………… 77
Conclusion ……………………………..……………………………………..………………………………………………….……… 80
Acknowledgments ……………………………..……………………………………………………………..……..………..……… 81
Glossary of Acronyms ……………………………..……………………………………..…………….……………..……… 82
References ……………………………..……………………………………..…………………………………..…..………………… 83
Appendix A ……………………………..……………………………………..………………………………………………….……… 95

DOE finalizes national hydrogen road map (E&E News Energywire)

Excerpt from E&E News Energywire: Overall, the fuel could slash the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent through 2050, relative to 2005 levels, DOE said.

To do so, the United States should aim to make about 10 million metric tons of low-carbon hydrogen per year by 2030 — about the same volume that is created today using a high-emissions process, according to the strategy document. Annual low-carbon production should then double by 2040 before reaching 50 million metric tons by 2050, it said.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, on a Monday press call, described the national strategy as a road map for the “colossal effort” of scaling up a “clean” hydrogen industry and said the fuel could create up to 100,000 jobs by 2030. Clean hydrogen would emit less than half of the CO2 equivalent emitted by today’s hydrogen production processes.

“This is an enormous opportunity. It’s going to require not just a whole-of-government effort but a whole-of-America effort to get us there,” Granholm said.

Federal agencies will prioritize hard-to-decarbonize sectors — such as heavy industry, aviation, steelmaking, chemical production, ships, and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles — as consumers of low-carbon hydrogen, according to the document.

Those priorities may be different from the priorities of many natural gas utilities that say hydrogen should become a widespread substitute for fossil fuels in buildings, where it could serve as a fuel for space and water heating. DOE’s national strategy endorses that as an option only when there are “limited alternatives” such as electrification.

Another fossil fuel industry priority — hydrogen co-firing, or mixing the fuel into natural gas at power plants — also received clearer and more prominent backing in DOE’s national strategy than in a draft version released last year.

That change follows EPA’s release last month of proposed emissions standards that would let gas plant operators mix hydrogen into natural gas as a way to comply. Yet co-firing remains an unpopular idea with some environmentalists who suspect it could raise emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and serve as a pretext to keep expanding natural gas capacity on the grid.

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Energy Department officials foresee three “waves” of clean hydrogen adoption, with each wave crashing when low-carbon hydrogen becomes just as cheap and practical as carbon-intensive fuels, according to the strategy.

Refineries, transit buses and long-haul truck operators, ammonia producers, and operators of forklifts and heavy machinery could switch to hydrogen in the first wave. Power plants, medium-duty trucks, steel producers and airlines could join the transition in the second wave, followed by cement makers, container ships and methanol producers in the third, DOE said.

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Other persistent challenges for the industry include wariness among potential hydrogen buyers, difficulties in getting local permits, and improving safety regulations for hydrogen’s storage and transport by pipeline, the department said. And “concerted efforts” should be made to address community-level concerns about hydrogen leakage as well as the prospect of increased NOx emissions from hydrogen burned in gas turbines, according to DOE.

Waiting for Treasury

One question that continues to swirl in the hydrogen policy world is how clean the fuel will really be.

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But the Treasury Department has yet to release guidance for how prospective hydrogen developers must track and report their emissions, while seeking the IRA’s tax credits. The details of that guidance have become deeply contentious

Environmentalists and emissions researchers have led calls for strict emissions accounting requirements meant to keep “green” hydrogen developers from generating large volumes of emissions from their use of grid electricity. Green hydrogen is usually understood as being made from renewable electricity and water.

On the other side of the debate are trade groups representing renewable power developers and investor-owned utilities, which argue that Treasury should preserve flexibility for hydrogen developers seeking to use grid power for that process rather than dedicated renewables. READ MORE

Excerpt from U.S. Department of Energy:

The Biden-Harris Administration today released the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, a comprehensive framework for accelerating the production, processing, delivery, storage, and use of clean hydrogen—a versatile and flexible energy carrier that can be produced with low or zero carbon emissions. Achieving commercial-scale hydrogen deployment is a key component of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, and critical to building a strong clean energy economy while enabling our long-term decarbonization objectives. Estimates indicate that America’s growing hydrogen economy has the potential to add 100,000 net new direct and indirect jobs by 2030. Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership other federal agencies, the Strategy and Roadmap underscores the President’s whole-of-government approach to addressing the climate crisis and achieving a carbon-free grid by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

“Accelerating the deployment of hydrogen is key to achieving President Biden’s vision for an affordable, secure clean energy future,” saidU.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “That’s why DOE worked alongside our federal partners to develop the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap that will lay the foundation for a strong and productive partnership between the public and private sectors and will guide government and industry to realize the full potential of this incredibly versatile energy resource.”

“President Biden understands that growing America’s clean hydrogen capability can spur good-paying union jobs, support local economic development, and help decarbonize industries long seen as ‘hard to decarbonize,’” said Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “This roadmap will align the private and public sectors on a shared path to drive faster toward a cleaner, more secure energy future.”

Clean hydrogen offers substantial economic benefits and will help create tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs across the country, particularly in underserved communities. According to DOE’s Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Clean Hydrogen report, America’s growing hydrogen economy has the potential to add 100,000 net new direct and indirect jobs by 2030. By enabling the development of diverse, domestic clean energy pathways across multiple sectors of the economy, clean hydrogen will strengthen American energy independence and accelerate the American manufacturing boom that has already created over 800,000 jobs since President Biden took office.

Clean hydrogen is set to play a vital future role in reducing emissions from some of the most energy-intensive sectors of our economy, including industrial and chemical processes and heavy-duty transportation. Clean hydrogen can also support the expansion of variable renewable power by providing a means for long-duration energy storage and offers flexibility and multiple revenue streams for all types of clean power generation—including renewables, advanced nuclear, and other innovative technologies.

The Strategy and Roadmap provides a snapshot of hydrogen production, transport, storage, and use in the United States today and a vision for how clean hydrogen will contribute to national decarbonization goals across multiple sectors in the future. It examines future demand scenarios—with strategic opportunities for the domestic production of 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of clean hydrogen annually by 2030, 20 MMT annually by 2040, and 50 MMT annually by 2050. It also complements a historic $9.5 billion investment for clean hydrogen through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, ongoing research and development efforts across the federal government, as well as strong policy incentives—including a new production tax credit for clean hydrogen—in the historic Inflation Reduction Act.

The Strategy and Roadmap identifies three key strategies to ensure that clean hydrogen is developed and adopted as an effective decarbonization tool, including:

Targeting strategic, high-impact uses for clean hydrogen, which will ensure that clean hydrogen will be utilized in the highest benefit applications, where limited alternatives exist (such as the industrial sector, heavy-duty transportation, and long-duration energy storage to enable a clean grid);
Reducing the cost of clean hydrogen by catalyzing innovation and scale, stimulating private sector investments, and developing the clean hydrogen supply chain; and
Focusing on regional networks with large-scale clean hydrogen production and end-use in close proximity, enabling maximum benefit from infrastructure investment, driving scale, and facilitating market liftoff while leveraging place-based opportunities for equity, inclusion, and environmental justice.

To ensure the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap addresses the needs and incorporates input from the broadest possible array of hydrogen stakeholders, it was released in draft form for public comment in September 2022. The final version released today reflects feedback from across the Biden-Harris Administration, stakeholders in industry, academia, and the non-profit sector, as well as state, local, and Tribal governments. It also incorporates findings from DOE’s March 2023 report, Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Clean Hydrogen. Given the rapidly evolving market, technology, and policy environment as well as community needs and engagement, the Strategy and Roadmap was designed to be a “living document” and will be updated at least every three years.

Learn more about U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, and how DOE’s Hydrogen Program is working to support President Biden’s efforts to address the climate crisis and deliver a clean and equitable energy future for all. READ MORE