The US Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized agreements with the last two hydrogen hubs awaiting deals, completing President Joe Biden's vision of establishing seven regional clusters.
The Heartland Hydrogen Hub (HH2H) — which includes projects in the US' Upper Midwest stretching from Montana to Wisconsin — will be eligible for as much as $925mn in federal funding, receiving an initial tranche of $20mn to begin Phase 1 activities. The Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2) could receive as much as $750mn in government dollars for projects centered around decarbonizing operations at the Port of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
The awards were announced in the final hours of 17 January, the last day of the outgoing presidency. The hubs are part of a $7bn initiative that Biden announced in 2023 to jump-start the domestic hydrogen economy.
HH2H will leverage low-cost wind power to produce hydrogen for fertilizer production and power generation. The hub had suffered a series of high-profile shake ups during negotiations with the federal government, with US crude refiner Marathon Petroleum dropping out and Minnesota-based utility Xcel Energy saying it was looking to revise its original investment plans.
MACH2 is expected to produce hydrogen from a mix of renewable and nuclear power.