Federal funding for five of the seven regional hydrogen hubs and other energy-related projects that had been in line for termination could instead be preserved following a review by the Trump administration, according to Bloomberg, which cited a 39-page list of about 2,000 projects the Department of Energy said it plans to “retain or modify.”
The DOE announced $7.56 billion in project cancellations in October, which included two hub projects: California’s Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES; #1 in table and map below) and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub (PNWH2; #7), which included projects in Washington, Oregon and Montana. News reports at the time indicated the DOE was preparing additional cuts of more than $20 billion, including the five other hydrogen hubs that now appear to have their funding preserved — the Appalachia Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2; #2), the Heartland Regional Hub (#3), the HyVelocity Hub (#4), the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (#5), and the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (#6). We have listed the funding for those hubs as "at risk" in our weekly Hydrogen Billboard report.
Money for the hydrogen hubs was included in 2021’s Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), better known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Seven hubs were chosen in October 2023 after a lengthy selection process, with 79 projects submitting a concept paper.
Two direct air capture (DAC) projects that were scheduled to split $1.2 billion could also see their funding preserved, according to Bloomberg: Project Cypress in Louisiana, a joint venture between Heirloom, Climeworks and Battelle; and the South Texas DAC hub in Kleberg County, developed by Occidental’s 1PointFive.
The DOE's project list is not public and there is no indication whether it is final.
