DOE Encourages Southeast Hydrogen Hub to Submit Full Application for Federal Funding

January 24, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 24, 2023

The Southeast Hydrogen Hub coalition, which includes the Tennessee Valley Authority, on Jan. 19, announced that it is among the limited number of organizations encouraged by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a full application in response to the $8 billion in funding for regional clean hydrogen hubs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The coalition, as well as Battelle, is working to organize the potential hub and secure funding. After submitting an initial concept paper in November, the coalition received the DOE notification of encouragement on December 27, 2022.

Of the 79 concept papers the DOE received, 33 were encouraged to advance to the application stage. Formal proposals are due to the DOE in April 2023, with decisions expected in the fall.

A hydrogen hub in the Southeastern U.S. is expected to bring robust economic development benefits and jobs to the region, TVA and other utility members of the coalition noted.

“Hydrogen is attractive as an energy resource because it has immediate potential to accelerate decarbonization in the Southeast and across all sectors of the U.S. economy – including transportation, which generates the largest share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country,” they said.

The coalition’s concept paper described how the Southeast Hydrogen Hub would build on existing infrastructure utilizing technologies to advance the production, storage, transport, and delivery of hydrogen to transition the energy economy toward a decarbonized future.

Other members of the coalition include investor-owned utilities Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Louisville Gas, and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company and Southern Company.