E&E News: "Midwest Hydrogen Hubs Join Forces to Pursue DOE Funding"
Senior Research Associate Yuqi Zhu shares his perspective on the Department of Energy's efforts to spur hydrogen hub development.
Such consolidation is not surprising, as DOE has said it will fund just six to 10 proposals, said Yuqi Zhu, senior research associate at think tank Resources for the Future. The Midwest merger follows a similar one in Texas between the Horizons Clean Hydrogen Hub and Trans Permian H2Hub. That merged hub proposal now covers about two-thirds of the state.
“DOE seems to prefer scale as well as larger hubs, so they are looking for a diverse set of partners, more production and end use options, as well as a greater geographic area,” Zhu said...
Applications are due to DOE by April 7. By combining two groups — each of which consists of dozens of companies and organizations — the new coalition faces a new layer of complexity in putting together its proposal, Zhu said.
“As these hubs grow, I think there will need to be a lot more resources allocated on the project management and financial side, both how the funding would be distributed, as well as how each of these stakeholders is involved,” Zhu said. And balancing all the parties’ needs “will definitely present a bit of a challenge.”
