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Now is the time for the U.S. to take a leadership role at this critical juncture in the energy transition. Proactive involvement of the public sector and private industry as we head into this decade of clean power, clean water and clean industrial applications is crucial to accomplishing the many climate goals that companies and governments have set out to achieve – many by 2030. The U.S. is rich in diverse resources across its regions, each of which has a unique position in the hydrogen value chain - ranging from hydrogen production, distribution to end use. We should heed Secretary Kerry’s words and embrace the “huge opportunities” that hydrogen presents to meet our climate goals, create additional good-paying domestic jobs and take advantage of our innovative culture to achieve cost competitiveness and scale in what will certainly be a key molecule in the transition to a more sustainable world.

Since 2020, China has successively issued the "Notice of Launching Demonstration Applications of Fuel Cell Vehicles" and the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)", and supporting plans and policies to promote hydrogen energy R&D, production, storage and transportation and application have been introduced by local authorities across China. As of the end of 2020, China has an inventory of 7,352 fuel cell vehicles, 128 hydrogen refueling stations have been built with 101 already put into operation, ranking second worldwide only to Japan. Sinopec currently produces 3.5 million tons of hydrogen per year. In 2020, Sinopec started to advance and accelerate the construction of an integrated hydrogen energy industry chain across various fields – capital operation, technology R&D, production storage and transportation, network distribution and social cooperation.

The California Energy Commission has selected the Advanced Electrolyzer System (AES) technology for hydrogen energy storage. AES will recover hydrogen from waste syngas sources using excess electricity. “This is a Win-Win solution for California State by creating higher Value from Waste,” said Pinakin Patel, President of T2M Global. The Phase 1 of the AES project is $1.2 million to validate lower cost hydrogen production. It will open a pathway for a potential demonstration of $6 million hydrogen energy storage to enhance microgrid resiliency in California, a multi-billion dollars market. The Advanced Electrolyzer System (AES) is a world-class system created by the team led by Pinakin Patel at T2M Global. Its proprietary technology allows for much lower cost production of hydrogen with no greenhouse gas emissions. AES is the only technology capable of producing high purity green hydrogen at highly competitive costs. AES targets <$5/kg H2, a significant and material improvement from the $10-15/kg H2 levels currently in the market place. The significant cost savings through AES should promote the adoption of hydrogen technology to accelerate growth in sectors such as the fuel cell vehicles and renewable energy sectors.

Though the first 100 days of the Biden administration will be a flurry of activity, our nation must prioritize U.S. climate policies and establish a clear strategy for hydrogen investment through infrastructure, development and deployment. Steve Angel is the CEO of Linde, and Tom Linebarger is the chairman and CEO of Cummins. Hydrogen Forward is an initiative led by 11 companies committed to working with stakeholders in the public and private sector to advance hydrogen for a cleaner, stronger U.S. economy.

The U.S. oil and gas industry should embrace “huge opportunities” in producing and transporting hydrogen, with the potential for that cutting-edge energy source to fuel long-haul trucks and supply power globally, presidential climate envoy John Kerry said Tuesday.

The Alliance will serve as the regional connector for companies and organizations surrounding hydrogen energy opportunities while also being a resource to inform regional stakeholders on the benefits and opportunities of hydrogen technologies through seminars, workshops and events. The Alliance will support and advise E4 Carolinas in conducting a regional inventory of the hydrogen energy assets and activities in the Southeastern U.S. and will collaborate in creating a plan for regional hydrogen development and deployment.

As North America’s largest green hydrogen production facility, the plant will produce 45 metric tons of green liquid hydrogen daily servicing the Northeast region. The plant will use 120 MW of Plug’s state-of-the-art PEM electrolyzers to make the hydrogen using clean NY hydropower. The New York plant joins our existing Tennessee plant in a network that aims to supply 500 tons per day of green hydrogen by 2025, 1,000 tons per day globally by 2028 and that when fully built will offer our transportation fuel customers pricing competitive to diesel. This $290 million investment in green hydrogen production leads the way to decarbonizing freight-transportation and logistics and supports the Empire State’s path to achieving carbon-neutrality by 2050. The project includes a 450 MW electrical substation that will service the entire STAMP site.

“Now the climate change agenda is moving more front and center in the U.S.,” Daryl Wilson, executive director of the Hydrogen Council, an international group of executives representing hydrogen-related companies. As the U.S. and the rest of the world starts to migrate toward cleaner energy sources, “there’s a huge business opportunity,” for regions outside of traditional hydrogen centers like California to thrive, he said.

“Does hydrogen ever fully replace gasoline, diesel and natural gas? It’ll play its part in replacing those, without a doubt,” said Edwards of Air Liquide. “You’ll see it as a transportation fuel, as a home fuel, as an industrial fuel. You’ll see it in all of these places over time and 50 years from now, I think it will be very common across all those sectors.”

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, is carrying a bill that aims to jump-start the movement to green hydrogen by requiring state agencies to factor the fuel into their climate plans. “Solar is great, but solar is only produced when the sun is shining,” Skinner said. “In a perfect world, hydrogen is one of the absolute best fuels. Many of our other carbon-free energy sources have some limitations that hydrogen does not have.”

As of early 2021, over 30 countries have released hydrogen roadmaps and governments worldwide have committed public funding in support of decarbonisation through hydrogen technologies. No less than 228 large-scale projects have been announced along the value chain, with 85% located in Europe, Asia, and Australia. These include large-scale industrial usage, transport applications, integrated hydrogen economy, infrastructure, and giga-scale production projects. If all announced projects come to fruition, total investments will reach more than $300 billion in spending through 2030. Of this investment $80 billion can currently be considered “mature” – meaning that these projects are in the planning stage, have passed a final investment decision (FID), or are under construction, already commissioned, or operational. Anticipating continued growth in scale, the report confirms that – from a total cost of ownership (TCO) perspective – hydrogen can become the most competitive low-carbon solution in more than 20 applications by 2030, including long haul trucking, shipping and steel. Two factors will be critical in achieving this result: first, it is essential that governments sustain their commitments to deep decarbonisation, backed by financial support, regulation and clear hydrogen strategies and targets, and translate these into long-term regulatory frameworks. Second, deployment approaches must target key “unlocks” such as reducing the cost of hydrogen production and distribution that will have the most significant impact on the rest of the industry.