WASHINGTON DC – Today, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced the intention to invest up to $ 100 million over five years in two new consortia led by the DOE National Laboratory to advance research and development (R&D) of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. This financing is subject to allocations.
“Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies have the potential to enable resilience, energy security and economic growth in multiple sectors,” said Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes. “Through these new and ambitious initiatives, the Trump Administration continues its commitment to all previous energy solutions, providing a wide variety of clean energy options for both power generation and transportation.”
A consortium will carry out R&D to achieve affordable large-scale electrolyzers, which use electricity to divide water into hydrogen and oxygen, and can be powered by various energy sources, including natural, nuclear and renewable gas. This R&D will complement and help support the deployment of large industries by enabling more durable, efficient, and low-cost electrolyzers.
The other consortium will carry out R&D activities to accelerate the development of fuel cells for heavy vehicle applications, including long-distance trucks. This initiative will set a five-year goal to demonstrate the ability to have a fully competitive heavy-duty fuel cell truck that can meet all the durability, cost, and performance requirements of the trucking industry.
DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Daniel R Simmons, previewed this announcement last week during his remarks at the International Association for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Global Forum on Hydrogen in the Economy (IPHE), where he represented the United States as president of IPHE.
“We have made tremendous technological progress in fuel cells, electrolyzers, and critical materials, but the hydrogen infrastructure remains a critical barrier that we are committed to overcoming,” said Assistant Secretary Simmons. “Through these new consortia, national laboratories, industry, and academia will work together to improve the cost, durability, and distribution of these technologies to reach their full potential.”
The two consortia will leverage world-class expertise and state-of-the-art equipment at DOE National Laboratories and support DOE’s H2 @ Scale vision for large-scale, affordable hydrogen production, storage, distribution and utilization in multiple applications, energy storage and metal fabrication.
H2 @ Scale is managed by the Office of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
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