Full Title: The Hydrogen Hubs Conundrum: How to Fund an Ecosystem
Author(s): Robin Gaster
Publisher(s): Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Publication Date: September 12, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
In November 2021, Congress passed a massive package of direct federal investments in low carbon energy systems as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The IIJA’s inclusion of more than $20 billion to support pilot and demonstration projects was particularly noteworthy, a major step toward filling the biggest gap in the U.S. clean energy innovation ecosystem. The law also established a new office in DOE, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, to oversee these projects thus address a significant gap in its management structure.
The largest program in this portfolio is the Regional Hydrogen Hubs program (known as H2Hubs), funded at $8 billion over five years. This sum vastly exceeds prior investments in the field. DOE intends to create at least four and likely eight or even more of these hubs. Given hydrogen’s versatility as an energy carrier, with the potential to contribute to electric power, transportation, energy storage, industrial heat, and other uses, H2Hubs represents a bold initiative to accelerate innovation that would make it a core component of the nation’s energy mix.
This briefing examines the overarching strategic challenge facing DOE as it seeks to implement the program: defining what a hub is and what elements of it warrant federal support. Future briefings will explore other aspects of the program.