(Washington / USA) – The US Department of Energy is funding 52 hydrogen projects in 24 states with $750 million (€694 million). Total investments – including the recipients' own funds – amount to $1,6 billion.
The goal is to advance electrolysis technologies and improve the production and recycling capacities for hydrogen systems and components, as well as to drastically reduce the cost of clean hydrogen. The Department of Energy (DOE), as part of its "Hydrogen Shot" program announced in 2021, is targeting production costs of one dollar per kilogram.
Strengthen competitiveness
In addition, more than 1.500 new jobs would be created directly. The measures strengthen the competitiveness of American manufacturing and industry, according to a DOE statement. Projects were selected
- for the development of low-cost electrolyzers (eight projects, $316 million) to achieve greater economies of scale through automation, as well as concepts for recycling and quality control methods to maintain the performance and durability of electrolyzers, among other things
- to develop electrolyzer components and supply chains (ten projects, $81 million) that support the need for the manufacturing and development of key components for electrolyzers, including catalysts and membranes
- for Technology Development (18 projects, $72 million) to demonstrate novel materials, components and designs for electrolyzers to enable cost reductions and mitigate supply chain risks
- for research and development of high-throughput fuel cells and stacks (five projects, $150 million) that allow manufacturers and suppliers to optimize scaling-up
- to develop the fuel cell supply chain (ten projects, $82 million) to address shortfalls in the domestic supply of materials and components
- a consortium of industry, academia and national research institutions ($50 million) that is developing an innovative, practical and industry-wide approach to the recovery, recycling and reuse of materials and components for clean hydrogen.
The projects are intended to make it possible to increase US production of fuel cells to a capacity of 14 gigawatts and electrolyzer capacity to ten gigawatts per year. This would be able to power 50.000 (15 percent) of the medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold annually and produce 1,3 million tons of clean hydrogen per year to produce zero-emission fuel for almost 170.000 long-haul trucks, the ministry said.
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The US Department of Energy is funding 52 hydrogen projects in 24 states with $750 million. © Department of Energy (DOE)
