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Hydrogen Co. CEO Admits: “Oh Sh*t…Projects Aren’t Getting Built”

Hydrogen has been hyped as a carbon-free fuel that will magically fix the nonexistent climate crisis. It will supposedly clean up “dirty” industries like Big Chemical and Big Steel. It will power our cars and trucks, farting out water instead of CO2. And, it will help the U.S. hit mythical net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — the artificial date by which Mom Earth will toast if we do nothing. Billions of dollars have been and are being poured into hydrogen, and whoops! Nothing is happening because (a) the Bidenistas refuse to allow tax credits for hydrogen made from natural gas, and (b) hydrogen is too expensive to create apart from natural gas.
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Which Industry Uses the Most Hydrogen? The Answer Will Shock Antis

Depending on who you talk to, hydrogen energy will either save the world or isn’t a big deal at all. When hydrogen burns, it’s completely “clean” — meaning it doesn’t emit any carbon dioxide. Hydrogen, when burned, creates water. What could be more clean and pure and holy than hydrogen energy? Yet the 800-pound gorilla in the room is that there isn’t a market for all of the new hydrogen scheduled to come online if the so-called regional hydrogen hubs being funded by Joementia actually take off. If you produce it (more hydrogen), they will come (and buy it)? That’s what Joe and the climate hucksters are saying. Here’s a better idea: Let’s look at who uses hydrogen the most now and why. And would they use more hydrogen if it was available at a reasonable cost?
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The Biggest Problem for Hydrogen Energy: Nobody Wants to Buy It

Is hydrogen energy a solution in search of a problem? That’s the question that keeps running through our heads. In a free market, customers buy products from companies that manufacture them. If a company is producing a product for which there is no demand, that company doesn’t stay in business long. According to a journalist at last week’s CERAWeek energy event in Houston, TX, one of the “hot topics” at the event was “hydrogen’s demand dilemma” — as in, the customers don’t exist to buy it.
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Mouthy Delaware Riverkeeper Disrupts PA Gov. at Hydrogen Rally

This one is too funny. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a leftist liberal Democrat and the chosen candidate of the environmental left, appeared at a Philadelphia union hall for a speech last week to tout a hydrogen hub that is supposedly coming to the area, called the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2). The MACH2 project is actually centered in Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware but will give a few economic table scraps to the Philly area, which excites and titillates PA politicians. Early in Shapiro’s “ain’t hydrogen just great” speech, Maya van Rossum, THE Delaware Riverkeeper (that’s what she calls herself), got up and began to shout down Shapiro. That’s right! The guy SHE voted for and helped elect! You see, Miss Maya (hereinafter to be called Mouthy Maya) doesn’t like hydrogen hubs, even “clean” hubs like the MACH2 project.
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Biden Treasury Dept. About to Kill ALL Hydrogen Energy Hubs

In early January, MDN told you that a new IRS rule (45V) issued in late December, if it stands, will block construction of the multi-billion-dollar Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), a project that would use Marcellus/Utica natural gas as the feedstock to produce “blue” hydrogen (see Biden’s Proposed IRA 45V Tax Credit “Kneecaps” ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub). ARCH2 is not the only one of the seven national projects being funded by the Bidenistas that will get blocked under the proposed IRS 45V regulation. In fact, all of them are at risk.
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Dominion Tests Hydrogen in Appliances in Ohio Mini-Village

Behind the Dominion Energy building in Hudson, Ohio, sits what’s being dubbed Hydrogen Heights. It’s a mini-village. The sign at the entrance says, “Welcome to Hydrogen Heights.” Dominion is testing the blending of hydrogen and methane on gas appliances there. We have nothing against using hydrogen as an energy source, other than it will never be able to power your home (see Why 100% Hydrogen Will Never Power Your Home; Why Antis Hate H2). But that’s not stopping utility companies like Dominion from experimenting to see how much of a blend they can get away with using in existing pipelines and appliances.
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Confusing Biden Tax Credit Scheme Threatens to Block Hydrogen Hubs

Earlier this week, MDN told you about proposed new IRS rules coming from the White House (the 45V tax credit) that will favor solar and wind use in generating so-called green hydrogen, and disfavor (make more expensive) hydrogen produced using natural gas (see Biden’s Proposed IRA 45V Tax Credit “Kneecaps” ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub). Yes, the new rules, as proposed, essentially kneecap the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project, winner of $950 million from Uncle Sam to help build a hydrogen hub in the Marcellus/Utica region. Of course, the proposed 45V tax credit is dense and difficult to understand. We have a better explanation of what it will do…
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Biden’s Proposed IRA 45V Tax Credit “Kneecaps” ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub

Well, you knew it was just too good to be true, right? When Santa Biden promised *billions* of dollars of “government” (i.e., your) money to prime the pump on establishing regional hydrogen hubs, with at least one of those hubs using natural gas as the primary feedstock to produce the hydrogen (which happened with the ARCH2 project in the Marcellus/Utica), it was too good to be true. And well, it was! The Bidenistas at the White House, Treasury Department, and Dept. of Energy proposed a new IRS rule last week that the 45V tax credits (part of Joe Manchin’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act) can only be used if the hydrogen produced is “green” — meaning NOT made from natural gas. In addition, the electricity used to produce the hydrogen can’t come from fossil fuel sources like natural gas (if you want the tax credit). Biden just kneecapped the ARCH2 hydrogen hub project.
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CNX Pulls Out of West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Ammonia Plant Project

Friday afternoon, CNX Resources issued a press release to announce it is officially pulling out of the previously announced multi-billion-dollar clean ammonia manufacturing facility in southern West Virginia, part of the ARCH2 (Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub) project. Adams Fork Energy, Haldor Topsoe, and CNX announced the project in April with much fanfare (see CNX to Provide NatGas for WV Hydrogen Hub Clean Ammonia Plant). CNX was supposed to provide natural gas to the plant, tentatively scheduled to begin construction in 2024 in Mingo County, WV. CNX said it was pulling out for two reasons…
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NatGas-Powered WATT Fuel Cells HQ Staying in Westmoreland County

WATT Fuel Cell

WATT Fuel Cell Corp. signed a seven-year extension of its lease to keep its headquarters in Westmoreland County, PA. WATT Fuel Cell manufactures Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (“SOFC”) stacks and systems that operate on common, readily available fuels such as natural gas and propane. Instead of burning and combusting natural gas (or propane), those fuel sources are subjected to an electrochemical process that produces electricity (see this MDN post for a description of the process: SWPA NatGas Fuel Cell Backed by EQT Wins Product Certification).
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Skeptical PA Dems Turning Against Hydrogen Hubs & Blue Hydrogen

click for larger version

Pennsylvania Democrats face a conundrum. They love getting other people’s money (i.e., “government” money). They love any energy source *other* than fossil fuels (they have an irrational and deep-seated hatred of fossil energy). They even love the idea of hydrogen as an alternative energy source. But they don’t know what to do with the coming hydrogen hubs. Their patron saint, Joe Biden, has promised billions in government (other people’s) money for two hydrogen hubs that will, at least peripherally, benefit Pennsylvania (see Hydrogen Hub Winners Announced – WV Takes Prize in M-U Region). Republicans love the coming hubs (see PA Republican Legislators “All-In” on Regional Hydrogen Hubs), which is enough to sour the Dems against them. Sad, isn’t it? Two key Democrat legislators, State Senator Katie Muth (D-Chester/Montgomery/Berks), chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee, and State Senator Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester), Democratic Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, co-hosted a public hearing on Monday on the proposed development of hydrogen infrastructure in Pennsylvania. It was pretty much a hate-fest against hydrogen.
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Big Green Tries to Pressure PA to Block NatGas in Hydrogen Hubs

We spotted an article appearing on the PBS-backed Allegheny Front website supposedly reporting a story about Pennsylvania lawmakers looking for “best practices” to adopt in regulating the soon-coming hydrogen hub projects the state will see. PA will see some investment in hydrogen from two different hydrogen hub projects led by neighboring states (West Virginia and Delaware). The article wants you to think that PA lawmakers are reviewing and considering various regulations they might use to protect the public in this uncharted new territory of hydrogen energy. The real thrust of the article, however, is to push a leftist narrative that the hydrogen hubs should avoid using natural gas as the feedstock to produce hydrogen.
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Clean Fuel Services to Build Hydrogen Depot in WV, Part of ARCH2

Clean Fuel Services LLC, a subsidiary of Hog Lick Aggregates LLC, is one of fourteen partner companies from West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania providing hydrogen production, offtake, and connective infrastructure for the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project. Clean Fuel’s role is to develop a hydrogen fuel depot in Fairmont (Marion County), WV, as part of ARCH2. The depot will provide a “one-stop-shop” for customers transitioning heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks, construction equipment, delivery vehicles, and bus fleets from diesel to hydrogen.
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Only One Project of $7B Hydrogen Hunger Games Brings H2 into Homes

Morgan O’Brien, CEO of Hope Gas

Of the dozens of projects spread across the seven regional hydrogen hub projects selected by the Bidenistas to receive $7 billion in taxpayer largesse, there is only one project (part of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project) that actually brings hydrogen into people’s homes. That project is, according to Hope Gas CEO Morgan O’Brien, the project by Hope to distribute up to 5,300 WATT Fuel Cells to Hope Gas customers in West Virginia.
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Hope Gas to Use ARCH2 $$ to Distro 5,300 Hydrogen Fuel Cells in WV

WATT Fuel Cell

A fuel cell manufacturer located in Westmoreland County, PA — WATT Fuel Cell — manufactures Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (“SOFC”) stacks and systems that operate on common, readily available fuels such as natural gas and propane. Instead of burning and combusting natural gas (or propane), those fuel sources are subjected to an electrochemical process that produces electricity. In July, the company announced it would distribute 500 of its units to customers of Hope Gas, a West Virginia-based natural gas utility (see NatGas-Powered WATT Fuel Cells Provided to 500 West Virginia Homes). Hope Gas announced yesterday another 5,300 WATT units will be distributed to its customers as part of the recent hydrogen hub award given to West Virginia and its partners.
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Deeper Dive into Hydrogen Hub Projects Coming to WV, Timeline

Last week, MDN brought you a list of the 15 proposed projects that are part of the West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) initiative (see Full List of ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub Projects by Name, State, and Type). We brought you a PowerPoint slide deck from Shawn Bennett, the Division Manager for Energy and Resilience at Battelle, the private lab that is quarterbacking the ARCH2 project. The slide show was used during an online briefing about ARCH2. Today, we have a second slide show to share — this one from the Dept. of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which co-presented with Battelle during the briefing.
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