New Energies, new possibilities

The equipment delivery will consist of five 10-MW pressurised alkaline electrolysis modules, representing a leading technology in the hydrogen industry. Sunfire will be responsible for the design, production, testing, delivery, supervision of installation and commissioning, and performance testing of the equipment.

This comprehensive scope ensures that the project benefits from Sunfire’s technology and expertise at every stage, from initial design to final performance validation. The Tampere project is expected to produce synthetic e-methane and green hydrogen to be used in the heavy road transportation sector and Finnish district heating. The project is currently in feasibility phase, having received an environmental permit.

As of 30 September 2024, HydrogenOne's investment in Sunfire represented 25% of the company's NAV. Dr JJ Traynor, Managing Partner of HydrogenOne Capital LLP, the Company's investment adviser, commented: “This marks another major achievement for Sunfire, HGEN's largest holding, with contracts announced year-to-date totalling over 200 MW. This follows Sunfire’s successful funding round, which totalled more than €500 million over the last 12 months. Once the Tampere project reaches a Final Investment Decision (FID), Sunfire’s advanced pressurised alkaline electrolyser technology is expected to play a pivotal role in converting renewable electricity into green hydrogen as part of the e-methane production, underscoring the key role of electrolysis in the energy transition.”

Nils Aldag, Sunfire CEO, stated: “We’re proud to provide our pressurised alkaline electrolyser technology for Ren-Gas’s Tampere e-methane plant. Our advanced solution is designed to deliver efficient and reliable hydrogen production at scale, ensuring that Ren-Gas meets its ambitious sustainability targets. This partnership marks a significant step forward in establishing Europe’s leadership role in the green hydrogen sector.”

US hydrogen strategy unclear as Trump seeks spending cuts

• The future of U.S. clean hydrogen under Donald Trump is uncertain but unravelling support from the Inflation Reduction Act could be politically tricky.

November 19 – President-elect Donald Trump has, for a long time, supported the oil and gas industry in the United States (“Drill, baby, drill”) and rejected Democratic-backed environmentally friendly policies (“the Green New Scam”).

The nascent hydrogen industry, however, has mostly flown under Trump’s radar, beyond hydrogen’s flammability.

“The one thing I can’t get used to is hydrogen. You know, the story with hydrogen, it’s great until it blows up,” Trump said during a rally in October 2024, repeating a claim he has made that hydrogen vehicles run a risk of exploding.

Trump’s unconventional style makes it difficult to predict his actions on many issues, but the Inflation Reduction Act – which aims to direct nearly $400 billion at boosting low-emission energy technologies, including hydrogen – is certainly on his radar.

No Republican voted for the inflation act when it passed in August 2022 and there have been multiple attempts by some in the party to repeal it in its entirety or parts.

Meanwhile, Trump has granted Elon Musk, who has repeatedly bashed hydrogen fuel cells, potentially sweeping power within his administration.

Carina Krastel, Managing Director the European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center (EGHAC), InnoEnergy, says :

The only certainty right now is uncertainty,

“The much-anticipated hydrogen production tax credit (45V) in the U.S. under the [inflation act] will now be in question, as well as efforts to define a standard for green hydrogen.”

The production tax credits (PTC) for hydrogen will be allocated on a sliding scale based on intensity of carbon emissions for each kilo of hydrogen produced. Before then, the federal government must make a final decision on what constitutes clean hydrogen.

The decision, is expected by the end of 2024 and many in the hydrogen sector hope the PTC will be in place before Trump returns to the White House.

Difficult roll-back

Any sector subsidy that has already been allocated may be difficult to roll back.

The inflation act, and other bills passed including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and CHIPs and Science Act, have generated more than 334,000 jobs and $372 billion in new private investment since 2022, according to the environmental policy firm Energy Innovation.

Much of that activity has centered in states that voted Republican in the election.

Co-chair of the Bracewell law firm’s Policy Resolution Group (PRG) Dee Martin, says :

There are seven Department of Energy hydrogen hubs that cover 20 states in the United States. Of those 20 states, a majority of them are in states that Trump won in the election,

“Those hubs are centered around major industrial basins and rely really on a robust local workforce. In other words, hydrogen hubs result in more energy jobs, which President Trump has historically not only supported but championed.”

Inflation act, supporters are concerned that the wide-ranging legislation could have parts repealed and rolled back, especially those parts that have still to be fully implemented such as the PTCs for hydrogen production.

The potential loss of jobs in red states caused by the reversal of the Biden administration’s hydrogen policies make dismantling of the inflation act and other environmental programs especially tricky for the incoming government.

Jonathan Traub, Leader of the Tax Policy Group at Deloitte said during a webinar on Trump’s taxation plans.

I think we’ll see a lot of internal Republican discussion about where they feel most comfortable in attacking the [inflation act], which pieces they feel have shown, despite Republicans’ opposition of the bill, are actually working and helping produce either clean energy and/or good jobs,

Hydrogen states

The oil and gas, industry has been a mostly enthusiastic player in the development of clean hydrogen as it is already an important producer of hydrogen from fossil fuels.

Oil states along the Gulf Coast, all of which are traditionally Republican, produce around a third of U.S.’ hydrogen, or around 3.5 million tons (Mt) a year. The same states boast the country’s largest hydrogen pipeline of over a thousand miles, and three of the world’s largest salt storage caverns.

Hydrogen is unlikely to be high on Trump’s list for rolling back inflation act incentives as many hydrogen hub projects are concentrated in Republican-held states, says Kyle Hayes, a Partner of Foley & Lardner and Co-Chair of the firm’s hydrogen practice.

So much hydrogen production is focused on the Gulf Coast, and hydrogen as a product is something that can truly scale as another business line for oil and gas majors, for which hydrogen production is right in their wheelhouse.

Support for hydrogen from natural gas and carbon capture (‘blue), favored by the oil and gas companies, will help build the proposed hubs and stimulate demand from steel makers, transportation hubs, and for ammonia production.

Greater demand for hydrogen, clean or not, helps lay the groundwork for electrolytic hydrogen from renewables (‘green’).

Mike Mohamed, Investment Banking Vice President at Solomon Partners, says :

It is expected that support for ‘blue’ hydrogen will also be good for ‘green’ hydrogen because it’s supporting the general build-out of the hydrogen economy,

Hydrogen will be important as it could serve as a long-duration storage vehicle for electricity generation and can be deployed during periods of peak demand, especially as data centers have an acute need for always-on electricity, Mohamed says.

He says,

That is another avenue that we believe is very positive for the hydrogen story. Hydrogen can be used to provide that resiliency and much needed backup power for the data center industry space … and falling behind in the AI race is not something I think we can afford as a nation,

Source: Hydrogencentral

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Awards for Up to $2.2 Billion for Two Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs to Bolster America’s Global Clean Energy Competitiveness and Strengthen Our National Energy Security

Gulf Coast and Midwest Hydrogen Hubs will Create Tens of Thousands of High-Quality Jobs, Deliver New Economic Opportunities, and Reinforce America’s Clean Manufacturing Boom

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. 

• Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub (HyVelocity Hub; Texas)—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. Learn more here.
• Midwest Hydrogen Hub (Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2); Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan)—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.  

Delivering Economic and Environmental Benefits to Communities Across America

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. 

Learn more about how OCED, the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, and the H2Hubs program are supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s all-of-government approach to address the climate crisis and deliver a clean and equitable energy future for every American.  

Source: FCW Team