The Biden-Harris Administration, through the US Department of Energy (DOE), has announced $750m for research and development efforts related to reducing the cost of clean hydrogen.

Produced with Net Zero carbon emissions, clean hydrogen has been described as “essential” for reaching President Biden’s goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2025 and Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The funding marks the first phase of $1.5bn made available in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicated to advancing electrolysis technologies and improving manufacturing and recycling capabilities.

Under plans laid out by the Biden-Harris Administration, a total of $1bn will be dedicated to the research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen.

The remaining $500m will be dedicated for research, development, and demonstration of improved processes and technologies for manufacturing and recycling clean hydrogen systems and materials.

Jennifer Granholm, US Secretary of Energy, says that making clean hydrogen from abundant renewable energy provides the US with another powerful fuel for several applications, from construction and manufacturing to powering cars and trucks.

“Thanks to new funding from President Biden’s historic clean energy laws, DOE is accelerating our effort to make this exciting and versatile fuel market-ready within a decade—supercharging America’s drive towards an affordable and secure clean energy economy,” she adds.

Managed by DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, funded projects will address underlying technical barriers to cost reduction that can’t be overcome by scale alone, and will ensure that today’s emerging commercial-scale deployments will achieve long-term viability with tomorrow’s lower-cost, higher-performing technology.

Reaching cost reduction goals will open new markets for clean hydrogen—creating more clean energy jobs, reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness in the global clean energy market.

The DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office is focused on developing technologies that can produce hydrogen at $2/kg by 2026 and $1/kg by 2031 via Net Zero carbon pathways, in support of the Hydrogen Energy Earthshot goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1/kg in one decade.