The U.S. is gearing up to provide billions of dollars in financial support for a series of regional clean hydrogen hubs and had what amounts to an informal cutdown at the end of December, announcing that 33 project proponents had been formally encouraged to submit a full application this spring. Although the Department of Energy (DOE) didn’t name any of the projects on the “encouraged” list, we’ve been able to identify many of the proposals — and add five more in today’s blog — even though a lot of project details remain under wraps. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at the new projects on our list and examine the major factors that are likely to influence a project’s viability.
RBN Energy’s US CO₂ Infrastructure map brings together legacy Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) assets, as well as announced large-scale Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) projects, all in our signature concise, accurate, and intelligible style.
As we noted in Part 1 of this blog series, the U.S. has made clean hydrogen a priority, with the federal government’s Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) program intended to accelerate the process. The DOE opened up $7 billion in funding (courtesy of 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) in September 2022 for the development of six to 10 hubs. For the first stage of the process, the DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration (OCED), which will administer the hydrogen-hub funding, required interested parties to submit concept papers about their planned projects. (The OCED is also managing the development of hubs built around direct air capture, or DAC, which we wrote about in Stuck in the Middle With You, Part 2.)
“Clean” hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced with low net lifetime greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Generally, it is produced either by running water through nuclear- or renewables-powered electrolyzers or by running natural gas through SMRs or ATRs — steam methane reformers and auto-thermal reformers, respectively — and capturing and sequestering most of the resulting carbon dioxide (CO2). (To catch the latest developments and project announcements, check our weekly Hydrogen Billboard.) A clean hydrogen hub, then, is “a network of clean hydrogen producers, potential clean hydrogen consumers, and connective infrastructure located in close proximity.” There were five key criteria for hub projects — geographic diversity, end-use diversity, feedstock diversity, hubs in natural gas production areas, and employment — so we can see how well the proposals we know about fit the stated criteria and how they match our previous expectations about which ones would have the best chances. And, as we’ll get to shortly, the planned implementation of the various projects to achieve those criteria will be critical in determining their success.
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About the song
“The Contenders” was written by Ray Davies and appears as the first song on side one of The Kinks’ eighth studio album, Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. The song features a memorable slide guitar hook from Dave Davies and great blues harp from Ray Davies. Personnel on the record were: Ray Davies (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, resonator guitar), Dave Davies (lead guitar, slide guitar, banjo, backing vocals), John Dalton (bass, backing vocals), Mick Avery (drums, percussion), and John Gosling (piano).
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, was recorded between April and September 1970 at Morgan Studio in London with Ray Davies producing. Released in November 1970, the album went to #35 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The concept album offered a satirical look at the music industry. Hunter Thompson once said that “the music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” That pretty much sums up Ray Davies’s take on managers, song publishers, unions, the press, and life on the road reflected in the songs on the LP. Two singles, including the Top 10 hit, “Lola,” were released from the album.
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. Twelve members have passed through the band, with Ray and Dave Davies being the only original members in the band during the Kinks’ entire 33-year run. They released 24 studio albums, six live albums, 32 compilation albums, 10 EPs and 78 singles. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the UK Music Hall of Fame. The band gave its last public performance in 1996 and officially broke up in 1997 due to creative tensions between Ray and Dave Davies. Both brothers have gone on to successful solo careers recording and touring.
