Evidence Shows Three Pillars Remain Crucial for 45V Hydrogen Tax Credit to Protect Climate, Consumers, Industry

The Biden Administration signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in August 2022, which included the Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit (45V). The United States Treasury Department issued draft rules for 45V in December 2023 but has yet to publish final rules. Treasury’s draft rules require electrolyzers—which split hydrogen from water molecules—to use incremental, deliverable, hourly-matched clean electricity (the “three pillars”) in their hydrogen production in order to earn the top $3-per-kilogram-hydrogen subsidy.

This research note summarizes real-world developments and analysis over the last two years, affirming Treasury should finalize its proposed three-pillars framework (“strong 45V rules”). …

Renewable Hydrogen: The Missing Piece to Achieving 100% Clean Energy in California’s Power Sector

Without access to renewable hydrogen, California will continue to rely on natural gas plants. Renewable hydrogen can be a key element in mitigating power sector emissions and supporting the state’s emission reduction objectives.…

The Importance of Dedicated Green Hydrogen Pipeline Infrastructure

It is imperative that California engages in comprehensive long-term gas planning that includes establishing a 100% green hydrogen-dedicated pipeline system designed to meet the requirements of the state’s decarbonization goals.…

Green Hydrogen: A Key Resource for California’s Clean Energy Transition

The GHC defines “green hydrogen” as hydrogen that is produced from non-fossil fuel feedstocks and has climate integrity. Many benefits can be realized from the development of a green hydrogen economy at scale in California, such as air quality improvements, a clean and reliable power sector, job creation, organic waste reduction, and economic growth potential.…

Fueling Up: How to Make U.S. Clean Hydrogen Projects Happen

In this report, the authors look at the factors guiding clean hydrogen development activity in the U.S. Clean hydrogen is an alternative to fossil fuels and can help cut carbon dioxide emissions in hard-toabate sectors such as chemical production and transportation. This is why the federal government has sought to support the growth of clean hydrogen with large policy announcements in recent years, including production tax credits (PTCs) made available by the IRA and billions of dollars in funding to support the development of regional hydrogen hubs and to stimulate demand.

However, developers face a series of obstacles as they …

Clean Hydrogen and Grid Reliability

As states strive to reduce emissions while ensuring a reliable and resilient electric sector, clean hydrogen has emerged as a potential solution, particularly in applications such as long-duration energy storage (LDES) and microgrids. With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) playing pivotal roles in stimulating investment in scaled hydrogen production and use across the United States, states have a plethora of use cases to consider for clean hydrogen. The IIJA allocates funds specifically for creating regional clean hydrogen hubs and enhancing hydrogen production, processing, delivery, and end-use. Complementarily, the IRA offers tax credits …

Environmental Justice Views on Hydrogen

This EFI Foundation (EFIF) factbook highlights the perspectives of environmental justice (EJ) organizations. It reflects feedback gathered through two surveys—one targeting members of EJ communities, among others, (EJ members) and a follow-up survey focusing solely on EJ organizations (EJ groups)—as well as public letters of EJ organizations’ perspectives on hydrogen.

The factbook data show that while environmental justice groups generally support green hydrogenc in specific applications, such as in hard-to-abate sectors, concerns remain regarding hydrogen’s potential to prolong our dependence on fossil fuels, cause explosions, and create local air pollution problems. These groups also lack faith in the community benefits …

Green Hydrogen Proposals Across California

Local and state governments across California have set ambitious goals to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades. In recent years, policymakers, utilities, and other planners statewide have increasingly relied on green hydrogen as a component of their plans to meet climate targets, yet review of these plans has found that they rarely align. Statewide, decision-makers have set a wide range of targets for green hydrogen deployment, with different primary end-uses, timelines, and definitions of what makes hydrogen “green” or “clean.” In many cases, these plans also lack sufficient detail to fully characterize the potential impacts—positive and negative—of proposed …

Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office Multi-Year Program Plan

Clean hydrogen is a key part of a comprehensive portfolio of technologies and fuels needed to achieve our nation’s
climate goals and build a sustainable, secure, and equitable clean energy economy. Clean hydrogen, which has very low or zero emissions, can be produced in every part of the country and from virtually any energy resource (such as renewables, nuclear, or fossil energy with carbon capture). And it can be used in many applications: as a
transportation fuel, where it can be converted to electricity in a fuel cell, with no emissions other than water vapor; as a fuel for combustion …

Insight Brief: Clean Hydrogen For The Electric System

Clean electrolytic hydrogen has emerged as an option to help decarbonize electric power generation. While this is a nascent approach and industry, its decarbonization potential has garnered a rush of U.S. policy support. Electric utilities will play a key role in managing increased electricity loads if electrolytic hydrogen production scales up as forecasted. Although few electric utilities may yet be grappling with nuances of electrolytic load growth– or have a near-term need for the long-duration energy storage services that hydrogen can offer– now is the time to begin examining the topic and setting up a glide path for anticipated deployment …