California Launches First U.S. Hydrogen Hub With Federal Funding

California has just become the first U.S. state to launch a hydrogen hub after the Department of Energy officially awarded federal funding to support clean hydrogen projects in California as part of the Biden Administration’s program to partly finance seven hydrogen hubs across the U.S.   

Last October, the U.S. Administration announced that it had selected seven regional hubs for hydrogen production that would receive a total of $7 billion in grants to produce hydrogen, as part of President Joe Biden’s goal to boost the clean hydrogen economy and decarbonize industries.

The California Hydrogen Hub, one of these seven projects, was officially awarded up to $1.2 billion to advance clean hydrogen projects.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES), as the California hub is officially known, announced the official signing of a $12.6 billion agreement to build a clean, renewable Hydrogen Hub in California, including the up to $1.2 billion in federal funding, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom said. The remaining $11.4 billion is expected to be raised in public and private matching funds.

ARCHES is the first of seven Hydrogen Hubs throughout the country to officially sign their agreement with the DOE.

The hub is expected to help create a network of clean, renewable hydrogen production sites to cut fossil fuel use throughout California, with the ultimate goal of decarbonizing public transportation, heavy-duty trucking, and port operations by 2 million metric tons per year – roughly the equivalent to annual emissions of 445,000 gasoline-fueled cars.

While California’s hub will be for green hydrogen, some of the other U.S. hydrogen hubs selected by the Administration plan to use natural gas to produce hydrogen. The hubs in the Appalachia, the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub in Texas, and the Midwest hub will produce hydrogen from natural gas plus carbon capture and storage, among other sources.

These plans have drawn criticism from environmental organizations that slammed the support for hydrogen production from natural gas, saying it is extending the life of the fossil fuel industry while greenwashing its emission-reduction efforts.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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