The United States Department of Energy selected the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub for award negotiations of up to $750 million in funding from the Hydrogen Hubs program – a network of hydrogen producers, consumers, and local infrastructure.
The territory includes Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania, and south Jersey. All projects will be constructed with project labor agreements, and all clean hydrogen production will come from renewable energy, nuclear energy, and capturing wastewater emissions. It’s one of seven regional clean hydrogen hubs.
President Biden traveled to Philadelphia to announce the hub program.
Delaware companies have a presence in the hydrogen industry. Bloom Energy is assembling hydrogen producing electrolyzers, with W.L Gore and Chemours producing membranes and Air Liquide doing research and development work at its Glasgow site. The University of Delaware has also done research work and operated a hydrogen-fueled bus.
Funded by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the H2Hubs aim to accelerate the commercial-scale deployment of clean hydrogen potentially creating a new form of energy storage, and a way to decarbonize heavy industry and transportation.
It is estimated that 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide) emissions from end-users each year — an amount roughly equivalent to combined annual emissions of 5.5 million gasoline-powered cars — and create tens of thousands of jobs across the country.
“The Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub will play an essential role in advancing our region’s economic and environmental goals by creating more than twenty thousand well-paying jobs in the production, delivery, and use of zero-emission green and pink hydrogen to repower our region’s industrial facilities, transportation systems, and agriculture sectors. This historic federal investment will help ensure that our clean energy future is union-made here in the U.S., advance environmental justice by reducing pollution in frontline communities, and achieve deep emission reductions in hard-to-abate sectors. We are incredibly grateful to President Joe Biden, Senators Tom Carper, Chris Coons, Bob Casey, John Fetterman, Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, Representatives Donald Norcross, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Brendan Boyle, Brian Fitzpatrick, Madeline Dean, Dwight Evans, Mary Gay Scanlon, Chrissy Houlihan, Governors Carney, Shapiro and Wolf, Mayor Kenney, and all of the partners in labor, business, academia, communities, and non-profit organizations who came together across the tri-state area to make today’s announcement possible,” said Collin O’Mara, Chair of MACH2 and President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.
O’Mara is a former secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
MACH2’s selection will result in a substantial investment in research and development and workforce development in partnership with area universities and organizations including the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Delaware Technology & Community College, University of Pennsylvania, Cheyney University, Rowan University, the Collegiate Consortium, Philadelphia Works, DE Workforce Development Board, FAME, Inc. and DESCA.
““Collaboration is the key to success in strengthening our region’s economy and advancing sustainable energy sources for the future. The University of Delaware is proud to lead MACH2’s higher education workforce development initiatives in partnership with Cheyney, Rowan and Penn. Working together, we will provide new educational and research opportunities for our students and grow our region’s skilled workforce for the high-paying clean-hydrogen jobs of today and the future,” said University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis.
“This is a big deal. Hydrogen is a clean fuel of the future, one of the ways we can pollute less. Our region has been chosen for a federal infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars that will create thousands of jobs and show how hydrogen can be made, transported and used in a real-world way,” Delaware Governor John Carney said. “Delaware companies and institutions have already led on hydrogen and now will play a big role in the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub. When we have talked about the opportunities for Delaware from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law championed by President Biden and our congressional delegation, this has been one of the big ones and we got it. I’m looking forward to getting to work with our partners in the region.”
“Today, Pennsylvania is positioning itself as the leader of our country’s clean energy future and creating thousands of new, good-paying union jobs,” said Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. “Since my campaign for Governor, I have been a strong supporter of this investment in our Commonwealth and my Administration has worked closely with organized labor, industry partners, and our neighboring states to bring a regional clean hydrogen hub here to the Delaware Valley. I thank President Biden for his Administration’s belief in Pennsylvania, Senators Casey and Fetterman for their leadership, and Mayor Kenney for his strong partnership to secure this win for our Commonwealth.”
