The Biden-Harris administration launched the US National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, a comprehensive framework to accelerate the production, processing, delivery, storage and use of clean hydrogen, a versatile and flexible energy source that can be produced with low or no carbon emissions.
The commercial deployment of hydrogen is a central part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and is critical to building a strong clean energy economy while enabling long-term decarbonization goals.
It is estimated that the growing U.S. hydrogen economy has the potential to create a net 100,000 new direct and indirect jobs by 2030.
The strategy and roadmap, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in collaboration with other federal agencies, underscores the whole-of-government approach to addressing the climate crisis and achieving a zero-carbon grid by 2035 and a net-zero emissions global economy by 2050.
“Accelerating hydrogen deployment is key to achieving President Biden’s vision of a secure and affordable clean energy future,” the agency said. US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
Job creation
“That’s why DOE, together with our federal partners, has developed the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, which lays the foundation for a strong, productive partnership between the public and private sectors and will guide government and industry to realize its full potential “To exploit this incredibly versatile energy resource,” he emphasizes.
“President Biden recognizes that increasing America’s clean hydrogen capacity can create good-paying union jobs, support local economic development and help decarbonize industries long considered ‘hard to decarbonize,'” the presidential adviser said and national climate advisor Ali Zaidi. “This roadmap will put the public and private sectors on a shared path to move faster toward a cleaner, more secure energy future.”
Clean hydrogen offers significant economic benefits and will help create tens of thousands of new, well-paying jobs across the country, particularly in underserved communities.
According to the report Paths to commercial launch: Clean hydrogen According to the Department of Energy, the growing U.S. hydrogen economy has the potential to create a net 100,000 new direct and indirect jobs by 2030.
Decarbonization of industries
Clean hydrogen will play a critical role in the future in reducing emissions in some of the most energy-intensive sectors of the economy, including industrial and chemical processes and heavy transport. Clean hydrogen can also support the expansion of variable renewable energy by providing a means of long-term energy storage and providing flexibility and diverse revenue streams for all types of clean energy production, including renewables, advanced nuclear and other innovative technologies.
The Strategy and Roadmap provides a snapshot of hydrogen production, transportation, storage, and use in the United States today and a vision of how clean hydrogen will contribute to national decarbonization goals across multiple sectors in the future.
Explores future demand scenarios with strategic opportunities for domestic production of 10 million tonnes (Mt) of clean hydrogen annually by 2030, 20 Mt annually by 2040, and 50 Mt annually by 2050.
It also complements a historic $9.5 billion investment in clean hydrogen through the President’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, ongoing research and development efforts across the federal government, and strong policy incentives, including a new clean hydrogen production tax credit in the historic Inflation Reduction Act.
It is worth remembering that this tax incentive is $3 per kilogram produced, which makes switching to hydrogen useful in many industrial applications.
The Strategy and Roadmap identify three key strategies to ensure clean hydrogen is developed and used as an effective decarbonization tool, including:
- Target strategic, impactful applications for clean hydrogen ensuring that clean hydrogen is used in applications with the highest utility where there are limited alternatives (e.g. in the industrial sector, heavy transport and long-term energy storage to enable a clean grid);
- Reduce the cost of clean hydrogen Encouraging innovation and scale, encouraging private sector investment and developing the clean hydrogen supply chain; And
- Focus on regional networks with large-scale production and end-use of clean hydrogen in close proximity, enabling maximum benefits from infrastructure investments, increasing scale and easing time-to-market, while leveraging place-based opportunities for equity, inclusion and environmental justice.
