US funds $47mn for H2 storage, transport tech

The US Department of Energy (DOE) today announced up to $47mn in funding to reduce costs and improve the performance of hydrogen storage and transport technologies.

The DOE anticipates funding two to four years of performance for projects including hydrogen carrier development, onboard liquid hydrogen storage systems, liquid hydrogen fueling and transfer components and systems and membrane electrode assemblies for medium- and heavy-duty applications.

Through the funding opportunity DOE aims to advance its goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1/kg within the decade. Argus currently calculates the cost of producing zero-carbon hydrogen from polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis and renewables at $5.78/kg in North America.

The research and development opportunities spurred by the funding will work in tandem with the US' clean hydrogen hubs program and its electrolysis research efforts, DOE said. Concept papers are due by 24 February and full applications by 28 April of this year.

Hydrogen could potentially get a boost from another funding opportunity announced today by the Department of Transportation, which made nearly $1.7bn available to transit agencies to replace old fleets with clean vehicles. Several hydrogen projects were chosen for last year's round of funding under the same program.

By Emmeline Willey