美国计划将清洁氢产量提高到每年1000万吨

据钻机地带6月7日报道，美国能源部周一发布了扩大清洁氢产业的国家路线图，目标是到2030年将产量增加到每年1000万吨。

美国能源部周一在一份新闻稿中表示，为了帮助这个世界上最大的经济体在2035年前实现电网无二氧化碳排放，国家清洁氢战略和规划旨在加快“清洁氢的生产、加工、交付、储存和使用”。

该规划由《两党基础设施法》授权，该法律规定使用2022—2026年的80亿美元资金用于建立区域清洁氢中心，即2021年11月通过的立法中所述的“清洁氢生产商、潜在清洁氢消费者和邻近的连接基础设施”网络。

到2040年，该规划的目标是每年生产2000万吨清洁氢，到2050年达到5000万吨。

美国能源部于2019年10月1日发布的最新政府数据显示，美国的氢气产量为每年1000万吨。根据国际能源署2022年氢市场报告，2021年全球氢产量为9400万吨。

降低成本

国家规划的一个关键组成部分是降低清洁氢的成本，目标是到2030年实现每公斤1美元。根据规划，美国能源部支持生产清洁氢的不同方法，从这个角度来看，除了电解和使用生物质和废物原料外，还包括通过化石燃料生产，其排放被碳捕获和储存（CCS）抵消。该文件概述了通过这些手段可以降低成本的生产组成部分。

该规划认为“降低成本不仅限于氢气生产”。

各机构将继续加强各项措施，以降低整个价值链上所有关键技术的成本，包括减少供应链的脆弱性和促进国内制造业。

该文件补充提出，法规中的电解槽和清洁氢制造和回收条款(五年内15亿美元)将与年度拨款一起用于解决这一问题。

电解槽和其他氢技术的制造商也有资格获得“合格先进能源项目”的资助，其中包括回收能源的设施或提供降低地球变暖排放的服务。根据美国国税局5月31日的通知，在《两党基础设施法》规定的2022—2026年7.5亿美元资金中，财政部和美国国税局预计将首轮拨款40亿美元，首轮拨款将于2024年3月结束。

当前项目

路线图称，截至2022年，美国公开宣布的清洁氢生产项目的潜在产能总计为每年1200万吨。

美国能源部在2022年宣布为其所称世界上最大的清洁储氢设施提供5.044亿美元的贷款。由三菱电力美洲公司、Magnum Development和Haddington Ventures共同拥有的犹他州项目将为840兆瓦的山间电力项目供电，该项目预计将于2025年启动。

在路易斯安那州，空气产品和化学公司正在建设一个能源综合体，可以生产超过7.5亿标准立方英尺的蓝氢，或使用天然气生产的氢，其排放被CCS抵消。该公司表示，该综合设施预计将于2026年投入使用，是全球最大的永久性碳捕获工厂。

该规划认为美国几个州和地区正在积极推行清洁氢项目，从生产到最终使用，新项目宣布的步伐正在加快。

但报告指出，许多企业尚未做出最终投资决定。

该文件认为“获得长期、信誉良好的承购合同，将有助于确保大量已宣布的生产项目达到最终投资决策要求”。

寿琳玲 编译自 钻机地带 网站

原文如下：

USA Aims to Raise Clean Hydrogen Output to 10 MMT Yearly

The USA Department of Energy (DOE) released Monday the national roadmap for expanding the clean hydrogen industry, targeting to increase production to 10 million metric tons (MMT) annually by 2030.

To help the world’s biggest economy make its grid carbon dioxide-free by 2035, the National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap seeks to fasttrack the “the production, processing, delivery, storage, and use of clean hydrogen”, the DOE said in a press release Monday.

The roadmap is mandated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has set a 2022-26 funding of $8 billion for the establishment of so-called regional clean hydrogen hubs, or networks “of clean hydrogen producers, potential clean hydrogen consumers, and connective infrastructure located in close proximity”, as stated in the legislation passed November 2021.

“This roadmap will align the private and public sectors on a shared path to drive faster toward a cleaner, more secure energy future”, Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said in the announcement.

By 2040 the roadmap eyes clean hydrogen production of 20 MMT yearly, and 50 MMT by 2050.

The latest government data, published October 1, 2019 by the DOE, put USA hydrogen output at 10 MMT a year.  Global hydrogen production was 94 MMT in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency’s 2022 report for the hydrogen market.

Cost Reduction

A key component of the roadmap is the reduction of the cost of clean hydrogen, with a target of $1 per kilogram by 2030.  The DOE under the roadmap supports different ways to produce clean hydrogen, which in its perspective include production through fossil fuels whose emissions are offset by carbon capture and storage (CCS), besides electrolysis and the use of biomass and waste feedstocks.  The document outlines components of production through these means where costs could be lowered.

The roadmap acknowledges, “Cost reduction is not limited to hydrogen production alone”.

“Agencies will continue to strengthen their activities to reduce the cost of all key technologies across the value chain, including reducing supply chain vulnerabilities and boosting domestic manufacturing”, it says.

“The BIL [Bipartisan Infrastructure Law] electrolyzer and clean hydrogen manufacturing and recycling provisions ($1.5 billion over five years) will be used, along with annual appropriations, to address this strategy”, the document adds.

Makers of electrolyzers and other hydrogen technologies also qualify for grants for so-called qualifying advanced energy projects, which include facilities that recycle energy or offer services to lower planet-warming emissions.  Out of $750 million spelled out in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for this funding for 2022-26, the treasury and the Internal Revenue Service expect to allot up to $4 billion in the first round, which is to be concluded March 2024, according to an IRS notice May 31.

Current Projects

Publicly announced projects to manufacture clean hydrogen in the USA as of 2022 totaled 12 MMT a year in potential capacity, the roadmap says.

The DOE announced 2022 $504.4 million in loan for what it calls the world’s biggest clean hydrogen storage facility. The Utah state project owned by Mitsubishi Power Americas Inc., Magnum Development and Haddington Ventures will power the 840-megawatt Intermountain Power Project, expected to start up 2025.

In Louisiana state Air Products and Chemicals Inc. is building an energy complex that can produce over 750 million standard cubic feet of blue hydrogen, or hydrogen produced using natural gas whose emissions are canceled by CCS. The company says the complex, projected to go onstream 2026, is the globe’s largest carbon capture plant for permanent sequestration.

“Several states and regions across the Nation are actively pursuing clean hydrogen projects, ranging from production through end-use”, the roadmap says. “The pace of new project announcements is accelerating”.

But many have yet to make final investment decisions, it notes.

“Securing long-term, credit-worthy offtake contracts will help ensure the significant pipeline of production announcements reaches final investment decision”, the document says.