In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced nearly $62 MM for 20 projects across 15 states to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of next-generation clean H₂ technologies. These projects will advance critical elements of H₂ fueling infrastructure, develop and demonstrate H₂-powered container-handling equipment for use at ports, and improve processes essential to the efficient, timely, and equitable deployment of H₂ technologies. Among the selected projects are innovative, first-of-a-kind efforts to improve community engagement and ensure the benefits of the clean energy revolution are felt by all Americans. Building a strong and equitable domestic clean H₂ economy is a key pillar 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.

“Under President Biden and Vice President Harris, America is leading the world in the development and deployment of clean H₂—a versatile fuel critical to reducing emissions from the most energy-intensive and polluting sectors of our economy,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Today’s announcement builds on the historic clean H₂ investments made possible by the Investing in America agenda and will help deliver new economic opportunities across the nation while also reinforcing America’s global leadership in clean energy technologies for generations to come.”

Today’s announcement supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s vision of an affordable clean H₂ economy that creates tens of thousands of high-quality jobs while tackling the climate crisis. This vision is embodied in the U.S. National Clean H₂ Strategy and Roadmap, which is being implemented through a whole-of-government approach coordinated by the H₂ Interagency Task Force. These investments support several end-uses for clean H₂ and will become an important part of the DOE H₂ Program’s broad portfolio of research, development, and demonstration activities. They will work together with DOE’s Regional Clean H₂ Hubs and tax incentives in President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act to accelerate progress toward a thriving clean H₂ economy.

Clean H₂ is a flexible energy carrier and an essential input to several important chemical processes, such as fertilizer production and steelmaking. It can be produced from a diverse mix of domestic clean energy resources, including renewables, nuclear, and fossil resources with safe and responsible carbon capture. Its unique characteristics will help substantially reduce harmful emissions from some of the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors of the economy, such as chemical and industrial processes and heavy-duty transportation, while helping tackle the climate crisis. 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 clean energy pathways across multiple sectors of the economy, clean H₂ will strengthen American energy independence and add to the nearly 16 million jobs created across the American economy since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office in January 2021.

Building a strong domestic clean H₂ industry. DOE’s H₂ and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) will manage the selected projects, which span the following five topic areas:

• Components for H₂ Fueling of Medium- and Heavy-Duty (MD/HD) Vehicles (four projects, $8.5 MM): Selected projects will develop advanced components to enable gaseous and liquid H₂ fueling for medium- and heavy-duty H₂-powered vehicles.
• Standardized H₂ Refueling Station of the Future (four projects, $40 MM): Selected projects will develop and demonstrate a low-cost, standardized, and replicable advanced “H₂ fueling station of the future”—one that can meet the needs of commercial-scale MD/HD truck fueling.
• H₂ Fuel Cell-Powered Port Equipment (one project, $2.5 MM): Selected project will design, develop, and demonstrate a H₂ fuel cell “top loader” (for handling containers) and a mobile refueler at the Port of Oakland.
• Enabling Permitting and Safety for H₂ Deployment (seven projects, $7 MM): Selected projects will identify the primary challenges to siting, permitting, and installation across the value chain from H₂ production through end-use, and explore opportunities to address them.
• Equitable H₂ Technology Community Engagement (four projects, $4 MM): Selected projects will improve the capacity of DOE and DOE-funded projects to conduct effective community-engagement activities. With funding from HFTO and DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, these projects will engage directly with disadvantaged communities to help DOE gain a better understanding of their concerns and provide them with important information about H₂ and related technologies, as well as develop lessons learned and best practices on Community Benefits Plans.