The Case for Recalibrating Europe’s Hydrogen Strategy

In the five years since the European Commission unveiled its 2020 European Hydrogen Strategy, the European Union’s (EU’s) hydrogen market has captured significant global attention from policymakers and industry stakeholders. By taking the lead in developing a renewable hydrogen industry through progressive policies, targets, and technological innovation, the EU has showcased both the immense potential and the substantial challenges of this transition. Executing this vision has proved difficult, with many early expectations — such as rapid progress, cost reductions, and broad offtake applications — now proven to be overly ambitious or unattainable in the short term.

Kickstarting decarbonization of hard-to-electrify …

Emissions Accounting for the Hydrogen Production Tax Credit: Key Gaps in the 45VH2 GREET Model

The Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model is used to determine the lifecycle emissions of various energy sources, expressed as carbon equivalent emissions, and creates the framework for many monetary and market incentives related to energy production. In some cases, the values, assumptions, and calculations within each GREET model have the power to allow dubiously credible fuels to be classified as clean energy and benefit from supportive tax credits and fuel standards. Developed by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and first released in 1995, the GREET model has been updated and developed …

Understanding the 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit: Requirements, Exceptions, and Project Impacts

The U.S. Treasury Department released final guidance on the 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit in January 2025. While the guidance did contain the vital “three pillars” of incrementality, temporal matching, and deliverability, which are essential for ensuring hydrogen production does not lead to a massive increase in grid emissions, it also contains several concessions to industry lobbying that have the potential to jeopardize emissions reductions.

Clean Energy Group has produced a 3-page primer on 45V explaining how the 45V tax credit is calculated; how lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions are determined; how emissions are assessed for the electricity used to …

Potential Dangers of Blending Hydrogen and Natural Gas in Pipelines

Could blending hydrogen with natural gas help decarbonize the natural gas supply chain?

This 4-page fact sheet outlines the potential dangers of blending hydrogen and natural gas in pipelines. These dangers include hydrogen’s corrosive effects on pipeline materials, its tendency to leak, and its highly explosive nature.

Hydrogen blending is also inefficient and costly: a 30 percent blend of hydrogen into the natural gas system could almost double costs per megawatt-hour for power plants, and would not effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Reducing natural gas use in the US is crucial to reach necessary emissions reduction goals, but hydrogen blending …

Electricity- and Hydrogen-Driven Energy System Sector-Coupling in Net-Zero CO2 Emission Pathways

Electricity- and hydrogen-based sector coupling contributes to realizing the transition towards greenhouse gas neutrality in the European energy system. Energy system and integrated assessment models show that, to follow pathways compatible with the European policy target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, large amounts of renewable electricity and H2 need to be generated, mostly by scaling-up wind and solar energy production capacity. With a set of such models, under jointly adopted deep decarbonisation scenario assumptions, we here show that the ensuing direct penetration of electricity and H2 in final energy consumption may rise to average shares of around 60% …

Progress in Hydrogen and Fuel Cells

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) leads research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies across sectors—enabling innovation, a strong domestic economy, and a secure, resilient, and equitable clean energy future. HFTO’s activities are part of a broad portfolio of government and industry investment driving progress and enabling jobs across the United States. …

Eco-Reliable Operation Based on Clean Environmental Condition for the Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Hubs with Heat Pump and Hydrogen, Thermal and Compressed Air Storage Systems

Energy hubs, with their diverse regeneration and storage sources, can engage concurrently in energy transfer and storage. It is anticipated that managing the energy of these hubs within energy networks could enhance economic, environmental, and technical metrics. This article explains how electrical and thermal network hubs manage their energy consumption in the context of the multi-criteria objectives of efficiency, sustainability, reliability of the network operator, and operation. The hubs have solar power, a bio-waste unit, and wind turbines among other sustainable energy sources. They have compressed air, heat, and hydrogen storage units installed. Thermal energy is produced by means of …

Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Clean Hydrogen 2024 Update

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a series of Liftoff Reports—living documents that serve as a shared fact base on the development, deployment, and commercialization of clean energy technologies, like clean hydrogen. The Liftoff Reports build upon deep industry and community engagement, learnings from DOE investments and initiatives, and input from other public sector organizations. They analyze both challenges and opportunities in the acceleration of our energy transition in an effort to align and catalyze action.

In March 2023, the DOE published its first Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Clean Hydrogen Report. DOE reported that clean hydrogen can reduce …

Leveraging De-Risking Instruments and International Co-ordination to Catalyse Investment in Clean Hydrogen

Clean hydrogen is a nascent technology that could play an essential role to achieve net-zero emissions. However, less than 10% of announced clean hydrogen projects worldwide have reached final investment decision, as equity and debt investors often consider these projects to be too risky. This report provides a better understanding of the risk mitigation strategies to unlock and mobilise private capital for clean hydrogen in emerging markets. It highlights how de-risking instruments can address key barriers faced by investors in clean hydrogen projects and suggests ways to allocate risks among actors. The report also proposes actions to enhance international co-ordination …

Hydrogen Shot: Water Electrolysis Technology Assessment

In June 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the first of a series of department wide Energy Earthshots™ designed to accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade. The Hydrogen Shot™ seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen (H2) production to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade (“1 1 1”). As one in a series of Hydrogen Shot reports and assessments, this report, Hydrogen Shot: Water Electrolysis Technology Assessment, focuses primarily on current electrolyzer status and research, development, and demonstration needs to achieve $1/kg H2 based on current information and analysis. …