These hydrogen innovators want to keep it green

The Biden administration’s lucrative incentives for hydrogen are slated to only go to “green” producers who use newly built clean energy sources to make the fuel — and some hydrogen producers aren’t happy about it.

Clean hydrogen has the potential to be a low- or zero-emission alternative to fossil fuels, and could clean up energy-intensive industries like steelmaking and heavy-duty transportation. But it’s not economical to produce just yet.

That’s why the Inflation Reduction Act established the 45V tax credit to help incentivize hydrogen that’s produced with clean energy under these three conditions:

1. Renewable energy used to make hydrogen must be newly added to the grid, not taken from existing sources
2. It has to be generated near the hydrogen plant
3. It has to be generated around the same time it’s used

Many companies, including federally backed hydrogen hubs, have pushed back against the rules, saying they will make their projects economically unviable.

But they’re not the only voice out there, Kari Lydersen reports for the Energy News Network. Companies like Hy Stor Energy and Q Hydrogen say they’re committed to producing clean hydrogen, and want the Treasury to only reward fuel that’s produced from new clean energy sources.

Without these parameters, producing hydrogen could actually end up driving up emissions, environmental advocates and academics say. That’s why Hy Stor Energy wants to build new renewable energy, use it to produce hydrogen, and then store it in a network of underground salt caverns for use when renewables can’t meet power demand. Q Hydrogen meanwhile draws its electricity from a nearby hydroelectric plant, and aims to sell its clean fuel to industrial users that otherwise would rely on fossil fuels.