The US Department of Energy (DoE) has opened access to $750mn in funding for R&D to reduce the cost of low-carbon hydrogen—the first tranche of a $1.5bn total promised by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

The BIL authorises $1bn for R&D into electrolytic hydrogen production and $500mn into investigating processes and methods for manufacturing and recycling low-carbon hydrogen systems and materials.

Concept papers for the first tranche of funding will close next month, with full applications due by 19 July. The DoE plans to grant financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements with a tenor lasting 2–5 years.

The US has set a target of lowering the cost of low-carbon hydrogen by 80pc, to $1/kg, by the 2030s. This rapid reduction in cost is expected to be driven primarily by production tax credits introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act, which could provide a maximum of $3/kg depending on carbon intensity. The Internal Revenue Service is codifying how lifecycle emissions will be quantified.

$1/kg – Target low-carbon hydrogen cost by 2030s

However, the DoE notes that the $1.5bn towards R&D will “address underlying technical barriers to cost reduction that [cannot] be overcome by scale alone” and could help to “ensure that today’s emerging commercial-scale deployments will achieve long-term viability with tomorrow’s lower-cost, higher-performing technology”.

“Making clean hydrogen from abundant renewable energy provides America with yet another incredibly powerful fuel for many different applications, from low-emissions use in the construction and manufacturing industries to energy storage to powering our cars and trucks,” says US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm.

“Thanks to new funding from President Biden’s historic clean energy laws, DoE is accelerating our effort to make this exciting and versatile fuel market-ready within a decade—supercharging America’s drive towards an affordable and secure clean energy economy.”

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Author: Polly Martin