【Haichuan Hydrogen Energy】Annual production of 10 million tons of clean hydrogen! The United States releases its first **clean hydrogen strategy and implementation roadmap

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On June 6, the \"U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap\" was released; it is a comprehensive framework designed to accelerate the production, processing, transportation, storage, and use of clean hydrogen. This strategy and roadmap provide an overview of current hydrogen production, transportation, storage, and use in the United States, and outline how clean hydrogen will contribute to the **decarbonization goals of various sectors in the future. It examines future demand scenarios, including the strategic opportunities to produce 10 million tons of clean hydrogen per year by 2030, 20 million tons per year by 2040, and 50 million tons per year by 2050. It also builds upon the historic $9.5 billion investment in clean hydrogen, the federal **research and development efforts underway through the President’s bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and strong policy incentives—including new tax credits for clean hydrogen production—under the Historic Inflation Reduction Act. This strategy and roadmap identify three key strategies to ensure the development and adoption of clean hydrogen as an effective tool for decarbonization, including: 1) a strategy focused on clean hydrogen for high-impact applications, which will ensure that it is used in areas where it can deliver the greatest benefits, among the limited alternatives available (such as the industrial sector, heavy transportation, and long-term energy storage to achieve a cleaner power grid) ； 2. Reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by promoting innovation and scale, as well as by encouraging private sector investment in the development of clean hydrogen supply chains ； 3. Pay special attention to regional networks with large-scale clean hydrogen production and nearby end-use, in order to maximize the returns on infrastructure investment, expand scale, and promote market development; at the same time, leverage local opportunities to achieve fairness, inclusivity, and environmental justice. The roadmap outlines phased key performance indicators for the period 2022–2036, covering areas such as hydrogen production, infrastructure and supply chains, end-use applications, and supporting technologies, and proposes 8 guiding principles: ① Achieve deep decarbonization through strategic and high-impact applications ； ②Promote innovation and investment ； ③Promote diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility in the use of clean hydrogen ； ④Advancing energy and environmental justice ； ⑤Increase high-quality job opportunities ； ⑥Stimulate the development of domestic manufacturing and supply chains ； ⑦Achieving the economic viability and versatility of clean hydrogen ； ⑧Plan the development and deployment of hydrogen energy at an overall level. At the same time, the roadmap also outlines action timelines for the short term (2022–2025), medium term (2026–2029), and long term (2030–2035), along with corresponding support measures. It indicates that the development of clean hydrogen in the United States will go through three phases of application (referred to as “waves”): ① The use of clean hydrogen in the first wave will be driven by existing markets where there are few alternative decarbonization options other than clean hydrogen, including refineries, ammonia production plants, public transportation, long-haul trucks, material handling vehicles, and heavy machinery. Industrial clusters that bring large-scale hydrogen production and such end-use applications together will help reduce costs and establish infrastructure that can be used in other markets in subsequent stages. ②The second wave involves applications that can deliver growing economic benefits with industry commitments and policy support; in addition to the applications from the first wave, these include regional ferries, certain chemicals, steel, energy storage and power generation, aviation, etc. ③As the scale of clean hydrogen production increases, costs decline, and infrastructure becomes more widespread, the third wave of applications will become competitive, including backup power and stationary power sources, methanol, container shipping, cement production, and injection into existing natural gas networks. To ensure that the U.S. **Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap meet the needs and incorporate the input of as wide a range of hydrogen stakeholders as possible, the strategy and roadmap were released in draft form in September 2022 to solicit public feedback. The final version released on June 6 reflects feedback from Biden-Harris**, industry, academia, and nonprofit stakeholders, as well as state, local, and tribal** entities. It also includes the U.S. Department of Energy’s report from March 2023, “The Path to Commercial Launch: Clean Hydrogen”. Given the rapidly changing market, technological, and policy landscape, as well as community needs and participation, the ‘Strategy and Roadmap’ is designed as a ‘living document’ that will be updated at least every three years.