The US Department of Energy (DoE) has announced $750-million for 52 projects across 24 states to accelerate breakthroughs in clean hydrogen technology.

The funding, announced last week, will help advance electrolysis technologies and improve manufacturing and recycling capabilities for clean hydrogen systems and components.

These investments amount to $1.6-billion in total, including recipient cost-sharing, and will directly produce more than 1 500 new jobs, along with thousands of additional jobs indirectly generated.  

The projects are expected to enable US manufacturing capacity to produce 14 GW/y of fuel cells and 10 GW/y of electrolysers, enough to produce an additional 1.3-million tons a year of clean hydrogen.

That is enough growth in production—in just one year—to provide a yearly supply of clean emissions-free fuel for nearly 170 000 long haul trucks.

“The projects – funded by the President’s Investing in America agenda – will supercharge our progress and ensure our leadership in clean hydrogen will be felt across the nation for generations to come,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

Together with the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, tax incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, and ongoing research, development, and demonstration in the DoE Hydrogen Programme, these investments will help the DoE achieve its goal of reducing the cost of producing clean hydrogen to $1/kg.

The bulk of the funding – $316-million – will focus on projects that enable greater economies of scale through manufacturing innovations, including automated manufacturing processes, design for processability and scale-up, quality control methods to maintain electrolyser performance and durability and reduced critical mineral loads, as well as design for end-of-life recovery and recyclability.