DOE announces $47M in funding for research, development and demonstration of affordable clean hydrogen tech

The Biden administration is looking to advance clean hydrogen technology in a big way, and to that end, announced last week that up to $47 million will be available for the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) for affordable entries into the field.

Clean hydrogen is so named for its production, which makes zero or near-zero emissions. By funding projects in this way, the federal government hopes to reduce costs, improve affiliated infrastructure and advance the performance of hydrogen fuel cells along the way, bettering both performance and affordability overall. These awards have been put up as a funding opportunity administered by the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office and will be particularly focused on applications for heavy-duty trucks, with their traditionally heavy CO2 and tailpipe emissions.

The effort also promotes the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrogen Shot goal, which calls for reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per kilogram within a decade and thereby adds another tool to the administration’s goal of a fully clean electricity grid by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

“Clean hydrogen is a versatile fuel essential to achieving President Biden’s vision of an equitable clean energy economy rooted in reliability and affordability,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “This funding will advance cutting-edge research and drive down technology costs to help unlock the full potential of clean hydrogen energy—providing another valuable resource to combat the climate crisis while creating economic opportunities in communities across the country.”

The DOE will pay special attention to potential applications in some of the hardest to decarbonize sectors of the U.S. economy, such as industrial and chemical processes and the aforementioned heavy-duty transportation. Awards will likely be doled out in the form of cooperative agreements, running between two to four years. Applicants from academia, industry, and national labs – especially those with multiple technical disciplines – were encouraged to apply.

Those interested must submit concept papers by Feb. 24, 2024, followed by full applications by April 28, 2023.