The US Department of Energy announced Wednesday the recipients of $52.5 million in funding as part of its new Hydrogen Energy Earthshot initiative.
The 31 projects will advance clean hydrogen technologies to help the Biden administration’s goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen, from pathways such as renewables, nuclear, and thermal conversion, to $1 per kilogram in the next decade. Hydrogen produced from renewable energy currently costs about $5 per kilogram.
“Part of our path to a net-zero carbon future means investing in innovation to make clean energy sources like hydrogen more affordable and widely adopted so we can reach our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
“These projects will put us one step closer to unlocking the scientific advancements needed to create a strong domestic supply chain and good-paying jobs in the emerging clean hydrogen industry.”
The technology explored in the projects includes hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and utilisation.
The funding comes from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM).
The EERE will support 19 projects with $36 million in funding, and the FECM will support 12 projects with $16.5 million in funding.
Much of the funding from the FECM will go toward carbon capture and storage technology, and most of the office’s supported projects are connected to universities.
Overall, the highest amount of funding at $5 million will go to Cummins, a California-based company that designs and manufactures power generation products.
It follows a raft of recent funding for clean energy from the Biden administration, with the DOE announcing up to $27 million in funding on Tuesday to accelerate ocean wave technology to market to produce clean energy. Last week the DOE also awarded $45.5 million to 34 projects to geared towards advancing biotechnology to produce clean biofuels and bioproducts.
