US DOE doubles carbon intensity limit for clean H2

The US Department of Energy (DOE) today proposed its Clean Hydrogen Production Standard, doubling the expected maximum carbon intensity for hydrogen to be considered "clean".

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) required the standard to define "clean hydrogen" as hydrogen produced with a carbon intensity of 2kg of less of carbon dioxide per kilogram of hydrogen — but the proposal released today doubles the allowable carbon intensity to a limit of 4kg of carbon dioxide per kilogram of hydrogen.

Rather than adhering to the IIJA's specifications, the proposed standard mirrors the 4kg carbon threshold of the hydrogen production tax credit (PTC) from the recent Inflation Reduction Act. The change could allow the DOE to fund more diverse production technologies, including generation from biomass and fossil fuels, to achieve economies of scale, according to the draft.

As it is not a regulatory standard, the new definition only serves to guide the DOE's funding programs — but funded projects do not necessarily have to meet the standard. Instead, a project can be selected on the basis that it can "demonstrably aid the achievement" of the standard, according to the IIJA.

The proposal solicits feedback from stakeholders by the end of this October, which the DOE will use to finalize its guidance — meaning the standard is still subject to change. The Secretary of Energy will have five years from the publishing of the standard to decide whether the threshold should be lowered.

By Emmeline Willey