Biden administration awards $7B for hydrogen hubs

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US President Joe Biden's administration awarded $7 billion for seven regional clean hydrogen hubs across the nation to speed up providing the domestic market for low-cost and clean hydrogen.

"Clean hydrogen can reduce emissions in many sectors of the economy and is especially important for hard-to-decarbonize sectors and industrial processes, such as heavy-duty transportation and chemical, steel, and cement manufacturing," the White House said Thursday in a statement.

"Targeted investments in these areas can help reduce costs, make new breakthroughs, and create jobs for American engineers, manufacturing workers, construction workers, and others," it added.

The selected regional clean hydrogen hubs are expected to catalyze more than $40 billion in private investment, and create tens of thousands of jobs to bring the total public and private investment to nearly $50 billion, according to the White House.

"Collectively, the hubs aim to produce more than three million metric tons of clean hydrogen per year, thereby achieving nearly one third of the 2030 U.S. clean hydrogen production goal," said the statement.

"Together, the seven Hydrogen Hubs will eliminate 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from end uses each year—an amount roughly equivalent to combined annual emissions of over 5.5 million gasoline-powered cars. The nearly $50 billion investment is one of the largest investments in clean manufacturing and jobs in history," it added.

Biden also met CEOs from a number of sectors on Thursday about the outlook of the American economy.

"Today, I convened leaders of American businesses for a conversation on our economy — including our investment boom in construction, manufacturing, and clean energy. Together, we’re creating opportunities for businesses and workers in communities across America," Biden wrote on X.

Some of the CEOs included retail major Target and tech firm IBM, joined by Biden's economic advisers.