Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has issued instructions to develop a state hydrogen strategy, “employing an all-of-government approach to building up California’s clean, renewable hydrogen market,” his office said Tuesday.
“California is all in on clean, renewable hydrogen — an essential aspect of how we’ll power our future and cut pollution,” Newsom said in a statement. “This strategy will lay out the pathway for building a robust hydrogen market to help us fully embrace this source of clean energy.”
The state is competing for a share of $7 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for the Department of Energy to establish six to 10 hydrogen hubs across the U.S. and $1 billion from the law to underwrite demand for the clean hydrogen produced by the hubs. (See DOE to Invest $1 Billion to Build Demand for Clean Hydrogen.)
A private-public partnership called the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) filed California’s application to create a statewide hydrogen hub.
“ARCHES was structured to enable and deliver a clean renewable hydrogen energy system in California and beyond,” said the partnership’s CEO, Angelina Galiteva, a member of the CAISO Board of Governors. “Gov. Newsom’s all-of-government approach to accelerating the hydrogen market is exactly what we need to deliver for California and the nation.”
On Aug. 3, Newsom wrote to Dee Dee Myers, director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), saying the state needs to scale up its hydrogen market “1,700 times by 2045 to meet our carbon-neutrality goal.”
Last year’s Assembly Bill 1279 established the state’s policy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
The ARCHES initiative is “another example of California’s continued role as a pioneer, developing new markets for hydrogen that have to date been primarily focused on the transportation sector,” Newsom wrote to Myers. “Thanks to innovative policies and robust investments, California has the world’s largest retail hydrogen fueling station network, deploys the most hydrogen fuel cell electric buses in the country and continues to lead the nation towards the commercial operation of Class 6-8 fuel cell trucks. …
“To further position California’s leading role in this emerging market … I am directing GO-Biz to develop an all-of-government hydrogen market development strategy … organized around our north star: leverage hydrogen to accelerate clean energy deployment and decarbonize our transportation and industrial sectors,” the governor wrote.
The strategy should be developed in consultation with the Air Resources Board, Energy Commission and Public Utilities Commission, while clearly defining the agencies’ roles and responsibilities. In addition, it should “identify shared strategies to deliver projects, which may include new financing models, permitting modifications and procurement initiatives,” he said.
Stakeholders should be engaged, and partnerships with ARCHES and others leveraged, to produce and use hydrogen “at scale to meet our policy objectives.”
“Hydrogen has tremendous potential to not only grow our economy but also clean our air, create family-supporting jobs and lead the nation’s clean energy transition,” Myers said in a statement. “The ARCHES model provides an incredible opportunity to accelerate this market and drive down cost for everyone while unlocking critical community benefits.”