The Biden Administration has announced they are allocating $47 million for clean hydrogen. The money will be distributed from the US Department of Energy towards the research, development, and demonstrations of clean hydrogen energy. In hopes of reducing this source of energy cost and in turn enhancing hydrogen infrastructure, the US builds to address the growing concerns of fossil fuels and greenhouse gasses. All of this is in parallel with the DoE’s goal of reducing hydrogen costs to $1 per kilogram over the next decade, and reaching the admin’s goal of a 100% clean electric grid by 2035 and an emission-free American economy by 2050.
“This funding will advance cutting-edge research and drive down technology costs to help unlock the full potential of clean hydrogen energy – providing another valuable resource to combat the climate crisis while creating opportunities in communities across the country,” stated US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
The money will be shelled out by the DoE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office. They have a strong history of hydrogen delivery and storage technology being their main point of focus. They have also provided further development of fuel cells applicable to eliminate emissions from shipment and cargo trucks.
Hydrogen can be and is used in fuel cells to generate power through a chemical reaction rather than combustion. This energy power can be used to fuel virtually any application – from cars to buses to houses to commercial buildings. This form of energy makes way for higher enabled energy stability, resilience, life-span, and environmentally conscious alternatives.
This restructuring will be working in line with the previously enacted President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which consists of multiple hydrogen alternative initiatives. One being the awarded grant towards the collaboration between electric vehicle charging and media companies, Imagen and Volta Inc. Their granted project is the development of domestically produced DC Fast Charging (DCFC) technology used for commercial purposes. It will use silicon carbide-based power conversion technology to create easier installation charging stations. These processes will guide everyday users towards higher levels of clean energy.
The grant itself comes out of the ARPA-E Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program, which provides funding for sustainable projects that they deem fit and necessary for development.
“Clean hydrogen is a versatile fuel essential for achieving President Biden’s vision of an equitable clean energy economy rooted in reliability and affordability,” stated Granholm.
