Suddenly, Hydrogen is Hot Again
Earlier reports of hydrogen’s death were greatly exaggerated.
Like fashion, trends in energy ebb and flow. Hydrogen is no stranger to this phenomenon. The question for anyone interested in energy markets today is if the recent boom in interest around hydrogen as a fuel source for transportation or power generation is here to stay, or just another trend in the constantly evolving energy conversation.
To answer that question, it’s worth taking a stroll down memory lane to remember the ups and many downs hydrogen backers have seen over the years. I’m old enough to remember the excitement in the mid-2000s when President George W. Bush made a multi-year RD&D commitment to fund hydrogen technologies. The move was applauded by anyone looking for leadership from Washington to address GHG emissions and help free us from reliance on foreign oil.
President George W. Bush replaces a nozzle on a hydrogen fueling pump at a shell station in Washington DC in May 2005. Photo credit: Paul Morse
But the fracking boom was about to transform global energy markets, and all eyes were on affordable, abundant natural gas. So when inside-the-beltway pundits and naysayers started criticizing the investment in hydrogen as hopelessly optimistic, the promise of the moment was muted.
Some of these hydrogen skeptics found a voice in the Obama Administration, with Energy Secretary Steven Chu in particular playing the heavy. Secretary Chu famously testified that commercializing hydrogen (for vehicles) would require “four miracles”, followed by a snide remark that sainthood only required three.
Chu was wrong about hydrogen (as well as the number of miracles needed for sainthood) and later took a more moderate position to hydrogen’s potential. But the statement did its damage, and an industry that was making progress was temporarily pushed back out of the limelight.
Thankfully, industry researchers and the Department of Energy kept working, and continued to do what supporters of every nascent technology should -- strive to innovate and develop market opportunities.
Fast forward to the Biden Administration, and things are looking very different. Growing bipartisan support, earned through the significant technological progress made over the intervening years, has put hydrogen on the agenda again.
The Biden Administration’s bullishness on hydrogen is reflected in the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill. Hydrogen was a big winner with a cumulative investment of $9.5 billion. The bulk of the funding consists of $8 billion for four regional hydrogen hubs with $1 billion for next-generation electrolysers, which use electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Finally, an additional $500 million will support clean hydrogen research and development. Taken together, that’s a huge investment and vote of confidence for a technology that’s still largely on the drawing board.
But that’s not the end of the Biden Administration’s support for hydrogen. The current version of President Biden’s Build Back Better initiative, which recently passed the House, would also benefit hydrogen, primarily through expansion of the tax code. The bill creates a ten-year Hydrogen Production Tax Credit of up to $3 per kilogram for the cleanest sources of hydrogen.
Collectively, these two bills represent a real starting gun for the race to produce commercially viable hydrogen as a fuel source. The companies that are leading the way are already out of the starting blocks.
Buildout of green hydrogen technologies will have many uses including energy storage, zero emission transportation, and industrial applications like cement and steel production. If we could generate the kind of energy you need for those industrial processes -- but do so using nothing but green hydrogen generated from renewable energy sources -- we can push decarbonization deeper into our economy than was ever previously thought possible.
As someone who has worked with hydrogen developers for many years and witnessed the talent, grit, and commitment to a cleaner future of these industry leaders, it’s exciting to see a new set of long-term policies to support the industry backed by considerable resources.
Our political leaders often tout that Americans can out-innovate our international competitors, if given the opportunity. I believe this is true, and these policies are the opportunity to prove that right once again.
Only the future will tell, but it appears hydrogen’s moment is here again -- and this time it looks like a whole lot more than just a passing fashion trend.
