The Biden administration has chosen clean energy projects in seven states, ranging from Pennsylvania to California, as part of a $7 billion program to jump-start the development and manufacturing of hydrogen fuel, a crucial element of President Joe Biden’s plan to prevent global warming.
To help replace dirty fossil fuels like coal and oil with cleaner-burning hydrogen as an energy source for transportation, industries, and generating electricity, his goal is to build seven regional hydrogen centers.
During a trip to Philadelphia on Friday with an economic focus, Biden is anticipated to make the official announcement.
Clean hydrogen is “essential to achieving the president’s vision of a strong clean energy economy” and net-zero glasshouse gas emissions in the United States by 2050, according to the White House.
According to a statement from the White House, “As a clean fuel, hydrogen complements the role played by other clean energy source like wind and solar, to help the United States reduce emissions in energy-intensive sectors of the economy: steel and cement production, heavy-duty transportation, and shipping.
According to the White House, the seven hubs chosen by the government would lead to more than $40 billion in private investment and the creation of tens of thousands of well-paying jobs, including many high-paying union jobs.
For the program to develop hydrogen fuel, there were 23 finalists. California, Washington, Minnesota, Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Illinois are the locations of the projects that were chosen.
The infrastructure bill that Biden signed in 2021 includes billions of dollars for the development of so-called clean hydrogen, a technology that businesses and proponents of clean energy have long championed as a method to lessen the greenhouse gas emissions that come from fossil fuels and warm the world.
Since it usually uses natural gas or other fossil fuels as feedstock, some environmentalists refer to hydrogen as a fake solution.
If the projects capture the carbon dioxide created and keep it out of the environment, a technology that has not yet been produced at a commercial scale, fossil fuels can serve as feedstock, according to energy companies.
In the new Energy Department program that will establish regional networks of hydrogen producers, consumers, and infrastructure, states, and businesses have been vying for federal funding. The goal is to hasten the usage and distribution of the colorless, odorless gas that already powers some cars and trains.
The West Virginia-based Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub and the Philadelphia-based Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub were among those chosen. Both projects stand to boost Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state for the Democratic presidential candidate in the upcoming election.
Partners in the proposed Philadelphia-area headquarters include labor unions that are ardent Biden supporters. Biden has made Philadelphia a frequent trip for both official and campaign activities. Major Pittsburgh-based natural gas corporations with operations in the region’s abundant Marcellus Shale reservoir, including the parent company of the company in charge of the contentious Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia and Virginia, are among those with a center in West Virginia.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, who was a critical supporter of the comprehensive package that included significant spending on climate programs last year, supports the $6.6 billion project to carry natural gas across Appalachia. According to the pipeline’s detractors, the 303-mile route would cause forest land to erode and generate climate pollution comparable to 23 coal-fired power units.
The hub also includes a $1.6 billion facility that is being built in northern Pennsylvania to create hydrogen from natural gas with almost no emissions.
According to Perry Babb, president of KeyState, the owner and developer of the Pennsylvania site, “This is a big, big deal for… Appalachia in particular, because these facilities are all based in areas where coal was king.”
Partners in the Appalachian hub claim it could use heat, steam, and pressure to manufacture hydrogen from methane while capturing the carbon dioxide it would produce.
Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey provide assistance for the Mid-Atlantic hub. According to officials, the process of electrolysis, which splits water molecules using nuclear power as well as renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, aims to produce hydrogen that is as climate-friendly as feasible.
The Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems in California, one of the other projects chosen, will manufacture hydrogen using biomass and renewable energy. The initiative aims to establish a roadmap for decarbonizing port operations, heavy-duty trucking, and public transit, which are significant sources of air pollution and important drivers of emissions in the state.
The Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub will be based in Houston, which has long served as the nation’s energy hub. The center proposes to produce hydrogen on a big scale using both renewable energy sources and natural gas.
The Heartland hub, situated in Minnesota, aims to expand the use of clean hydrogen for power generation and space heating in cold climates while also decarbonizing agricultural fertilizer. Additionally, it intends to grant local farmers and indigenous groups equity ownership.
Hydrogen will be used in the manufacture of steel and glass, power generation, heavy-duty transportation, and sustainable aviation fuel at the Midwest hub in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The hub intends to use nuclear, natural gas, and renewable energy sources.
The Eastern Washington-based Pacific Northwest Center will generate clean hydrogen using hydropower and other renewable resources.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) termed the center “great news for the Pacific North-west,” noting that it will “ensure that Washington plays a leading role in growing the green hydrogen economy” and generate thousands of jobs.
In an effort to benefit from the economic growth and thousands of employment they would bring, nearly every state had joined at least one proposed hub and many of them had been cooperating. Large fossil fuel businesses, creators of renewable energy, and scientists working in government and academic labs are all participating.
Environmental organizations are dubious; claiming that although hydrogen is a clean-burning form of energy, producing it requires a lot of energy. It emits more carbon dioxide when coal or natural gas is used to generate the power, as opposed to just burning the fuel source.
A campaigner for the environmental organization Centre for Biological Diversity named Silas Grant said, “Hydrogen is another bait-and-switch from an administration that continues to break its promises to aggressively tackle climate change and help communities achieve a just, equitable transition to renewable energy.”
