Hydrogen hubs form backbone of ‘once in a generation' clean energy effort
Pete Bigelow | Automotive News
A U.S. 美国能源部一项旨在促进氢能源采用的倡议，距离达到里程碑只有不到两个月的时间了. In September, department officials intend to select winners for the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program.
能源部将从70亿美元中选择6到10个站点，用于建立连接生产商的网络, infrastructure providers and customers across multiple industries, including transportation. 政府将额外投入10亿美元，在生产初期启动氢需求.
官员们将该枢纽倡议吹捧为“一代人一次的机会”，以建立对氢的支持, 一种丰富的元素，当用作燃料时，它会释放水蒸气而不是二氧化碳——全球变暖的主要原因.
"Hydrogen is a wonderful molecule," said Melissa Klembara, director of portfolio strategy in the department's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which oversees the hydrogen hub program.
But there's a rub. Hydrogen is more expensive today than incumbent fuel technologies such as gasoline and diesel. And it is only as green as the energy used to produce it. Some observers fear increased use might do more environmental harm than good.
A green hydrogen refueling station for city buses in Barcelona, Spain.
Nonetheless, 联邦官员和行业专家认为，氢可以使全球25%的能源排放脱碳, according to the Energy Department, and it stands as a pillar in a White House goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
Along the way, 该中心计划有望为新生的氢经济带来商业可行性的蹦床反弹.
"This is huge," said Bryne Norman, senior business development manager with Honeywell's Sustainable Technology Solutions division. "There are a lot of challenges for the industry to work through that need to be solved. But this is exciting because it really kick-starts private interest."
That may be an understatement.
The initial response to the hub initiative exceeded Energy Department expectations, Klembara said. Seventy-nine entities submitted concept papers. Collectively, they requested almost $60 billion in funding, 是《威尼斯注册送38元》中列出的项目中可用金额的七倍多.
Further, those proposals outlined $150 billion in private capital commitments, more enthusiasm than anticipated.
“我被我们能够产生的兴奋和各种合作伙伴关系所震撼," Klembara said.
The Energy Department winnowed the field in April. Thirty-three entities are now vying for the funding.
“我被我们能够产生的兴奋和各种合作伙伴关系所震撼.”
-- Melissa Klembara, director of portfolio strategy in the Energy Department office that oversees the hub program
Thinking big benefited finalists
For now, government officials aren't talking about the applicants. Industry experts are closely watching. While there's not a singular formula for choosing winners, there are some known criteria.
Some of the chosen hubs will utilize renewable energy feedstock, while others will rely on fossil fuels and nuclear power. Some will target specific industries, such as steel making, heavy-duty trucking and power generation.
地理位置是另一个重要的考虑因素，因为能源部希望分散经济和环境效益，并将在“最大程度上可行”的情况下将中心设在不同的地区.“许多提交申请的伙伴关系和联盟都是沿着州和地区的界限形成的.
其他由中心公司合作伙伴组成的小组，在各种利益相关者之间协调工作.
Beyond the stated criteria, 决定申请者被选中的一个因素是他们项目的雄心.
The average amount of public funding requested by the finalists was $1 billion, according to an analysis by Washington, D.C., think tank Resources for the Future, which has been tracking hub developments. Those that didn't make the cut had requested an average of just $600 million, according to the analysis.
"Scale appears to matter," said Yuqi Zhu, senior research associate at the organization. “（能源部）似乎优先考虑更大的——可能更雄心勃勃的——努力，而不是试点规模的项目."
A preference toward bigger projects underscores the government's view of the initiative. Bigger means more capacity to generate hydrogen, highlighting how it is a linchpin in the national strategy to reach net-zero emissions in 2050.
美国能源部应该选择能够每年产生1亿吨或更多氢气的枢纽项目, said Mona Dajani, head of the renewable energy, hydrogen and infrastructure practice at global law firm Shearman & Sterling.
"Otherwise, it's going to take many more hubs to meet the DOE's road map goals," she said.
Currently, 10 million metric tons are produced in the U.S. each year, according to Energy Department figures, almost all produced via carbon-emitting methods.
Globally, hydrogen generation is already a $155.3 billion market, according to Grand View Research, a market insights firm in San Francisco. The company estimates the market will reach an estimated value of $317 billion in 2030.
美国能源部预计，选定的中心将需要8到12年的时间才能投入运营.
Byron McCormick, a retired 他在洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室开发了氢燃料电池技术，后来成为通用汽车公司的高管, 他说，氢能中心倡议是一个教科书式的例子，说明政府资金的到位可以加速实施.
但他表示，政府应该根据商业潜力选择选址，避免政治考虑.
该中心项目的价值最终将取决于政治偏袒与顽固的商业和公用事业应用之间的平衡," he said. "There is great opportunity here, but years of experience have shown that opportunity can also be squandered."
Hydrogen carries risk
Federal government support extends beyond the hub initiative funding. 《威尼斯注册送38元》（Inflation Reduction Act）中有一项名为45V的条款，向清洁氢生产商提供每公斤3美元的税收抵免.
But what constitutes "clean" is a controversial question. The U.S. Treasury Department will determine the answer this summer. 环保人士担心，政府可能会将税收抵免扩大到实际上会增加碳排放的制氢方法.
Passengers ride a hydrogen-powered bus in Aberdeen, UK.
Here's the conundrum: Utilizing renewables or nuclear energy for electrolysis, the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, would be cleaner but more expensive. 使用现有电网的电力会更便宜——加速采用——但并不环保, according to the Energy Department.
"Grid electricity is not the ideal source," according to a report from the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, “因为大部分电力都是使用导致温室气体排放的技术产生的，而且是能源密集型的."
An analysis from the Environmental Defense Fund is more blunt.
It warns a hydrogen electrolyzer powered by an average U.S. 届时，电网产生的碳排放量将是目前蒸汽-甲烷重整制氢的两倍多 . But the method using the grid would be considered clean under the current tax credit standards.
Also, hydrogen leakage into the atmosphere can further exacerbate global warming. 氢是最小的分子，可以通过最初为大颗粒设计的设备. 该组织敦促枢纽开发商和能源部在他们的蓝图中制定控制泄漏的计划，并建立一个考虑整个生命周期的“清洁”定义.
"Clearly, the whole emissions story matters," wrote Akin Olumoroti, a senior analyst at the group.
“There is great opportunity here, but years of experience have shown that opportunity can also be squandered.”
-- Byron McCormick, 他是一位退休科学家，曾任通用汽车高管，曾在洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室开发氢燃料电池技术
Trucking ‘really makes sense'
While there's disagreement about whether cheaper, emissions-producing hydrogen should be used today as a bridge to greener future use cases, 人们一致认为，新中心生产的氢气应首先针对炼油和氨等难以减排的工业部门, concrete and steel production.
"As the hydrogen economy grows more prolific and after infrastructure has been decarbonized, then those ancillary use cases start to make sense," Honeywell's Norman said.
Those include transportation. Automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp., 通用汽车和现代汽车集团正在努力探索在交通方式和能源产品中使用氢.
Truck companies, including Freightliner-owner Daimler Truck, Volvo Group and Kenworth, are exploring fuel cell and hydrogen combustion options.
图为，在蔚山举行的“2021蔚山国际氢能源展览会暨论坛”上亮相的现代汽车集团“Xcient”燃料电池卡车, South Korea.
Most agree that hydrogen makes the most sense, at least initially, 在重型卡车运输和长途运输中，充电时间长和电池重使得电动卡车在经济上不太可行.
“当电池由于某种原因无法工作时，它作为一种燃料来源确实是有意义的," said Michael Berube, 能源效率和可再生能源办公室负责可持续交通和燃料的副助理部长.
Trucking could begin to implement hydrogen at scale in the 2027 to 2034 time frame, when refueling infrastructure could be more readily available, according to the Energy Department's National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap.
Less than 1 million metric tons of clean hydrogen are produced per year today in the U.S., according to the department's figures. But the government has a production goal of 50 million metric tons of clean hydrogen per year by 2050.
That's an arduous growth curve. The hub initiative is only a start.
"This is definitely not enough," said Dajani, of Shearman & Sterling. "Many more hubs need to be developed."
