America’s Department of Energy (DOE) is to plough up to US$100m across five years in two new National Laboratory-led consortia to advance hydrogen and fuel cell technologies research and development.
The funding is subject to appropriations.
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“Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies have the potential to enable resiliency, energy security and economic growth across multiple sectors,” said Under Secretary of Energy, Mark Menezes.
“Through these ambitious new initiatives, the Trump Administration continues its commitment to all-of-the-above energy solutions, providing a wide variety of clean energy options for both power generation and transportation.”
One consortium will conduct R&D to achieve large-scale, affordable electrolysers, which use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen and can be powered by various energy sources, including natural gas, nuclear and renewables.
The R&D will complement and help support large industry deployment by enabling more durable, efficient, and low-cost electrolysers.
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By GlobalDataThe other consortium will conduct R&D to accelerate development of fuel cells for heavy-duty vehicle applications, including long-haul trucks. The initiative will set a five-year goal to prove the ability to have a fully-competitive heavy-duty fuel cell truck that can meet all of the durability, cost and performance requirements of the trucking industry.
DOE assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Daniel Simmons, gave a preview of the announcement during his remarks at the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) Global Hydrogen Forum, where he represented the US as IPHE chairman.
“We have made tremendous technological progress on fuel cells, electrolysers and fundamental materials, but hydrogen infrastructure remains a critical barrier we are committed to overcome,” said Simmons.
“Through these new consortia, the National Labs, industry and academia will work together to improve the cost, durability and distribution of these technologies in order to realise their full potential.”
The two consortia will leverage expertise and equipment at DOE’s National Labs and support DOE’s H2@Scale vision for large-scale, affordable hydrogen production, storage, distribution and utilisation across multiple applications, energy storage and metals manufacturing.
H2@Scale is led by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.
