Steel Mills

DOE Selects Seven Hydrogen Hub Projects to Receive $7B in Funding

Written by Laura Miller

October 17, 2023

The US Department of Energy announced seven projects that could receive up to $7 billion in funding to establish regional hydrogen hubs across the country.

The funding is part of President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The following projects were chosen to participate in negotiations with the DOE to receive the funds:

  • Appalachian Hydrogen Hub (West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania)
  • California Hydrogen Hub (California)
  • Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub (Texas)
  • Heartland Hydrogen Hub (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota)
  • Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey)
  • Midwest Hydrogen Hub (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan)
  • Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub (Washington, Oregon, Montana)

The DOE noted that: “Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.”

“Together with tax incentives in the President’s historic Inflation Reduction Act and ongoing research and development efforts across the Federal government, [this] announcement will help drive private sector investment in clean hydrogen, setting the nation on a course to hit critical long-term decarbonization objectives,” the DOE said in a statement.

Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2)

The selectee for the Midwest hydrogen hub is the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen. Regional steelmakers Cleveland-Cliffs and ArcelorMittal are listed as members on the Alliance website.

Cleveland-Cliffs applauded the announcement of the funding.

The “announcement marks the very beginning of a new era in steel producing,” stated Cliffs’ chairman, president, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “With clean hydrogen in our backyard, Cliffs’ hydrogen-ready blast furnaces and direct reduction plant will be first in the world to replace CO2 with a new byproduct that does not contribute to global warming: this new byproduct will be H20.”

“Furthermore, Cliffs’ willingness and ability to offtake a significant portion of the entire production of the hub eliminates the chicken-and-egg dilemma associated with clean hydrogen development and, in doing so, makes hydrogen viable for other industries, including the automotive sector,” Goncalves added.

Cliffs has publicly stated its intention to use more hydrogen in its steelmaking operations. In May, the steelmaker announced it had successfully completed a hydrogen injection trial at its Middletown Works blast furnace.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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