Gov. Josh Green was hopeful about the future of hydrogen in his State of the State address last year. Hawaiʻi had bid on a piece of a $7 billion U.S. Department of Energy grant to develop a regional hydrogen hub, but the state failed to make the final cut.
Chief Energy Officer Mark Glick said last year that Hawaiʻi had a 50/50 shot at securing the billion-dollar effort. The hydrogen hub would have been geared toward ground and maritime transportation, and possibly as a fuel blend in airplanes.
The plan had received support and participation from partners like U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
Another project that did not come away with federal funding was the Northeast Hydrogen Hub, NPR reports. That $3.62 billion proposal from New York, New Jersey and others would have built out more than a dozen projects in the region to help produce hydrogen.
Where does that leave Hawaiʻi's plans to develop a green hydrogen hub?
"They were very apologetic about it, and have been trying to make it up with us getting other grants, which we have. But still, we want to pursue hydrogen. So there's a lot left to do," Glick said.
He said the grant was realistically designed for large, heavily industrialized multi-state efforts. For example, Washington, Oregon and Montana will get up to $1 billion to create a hydrogen hub in the Pacific Northwest.
"We knew it was a tall order. But we did know that they liked how effective we had been on our energy transition, and they gave us a lot of positive feedback along the way. So yeah, it was a bit disappointing," he told HPR.
But other grant applications are in the works, such as one with Hawaiian Electric and the Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative for $250 million to go toward sensors for wildfire protection.
"But in terms of hydrogen, there won't be another hydrogen hub proposal that big, like a $7 billion," he said. "There are a number of really large meaty efforts that have to do with production, have to do with marketing of hydrogen — and we plan to be in the hunt in those."
California, one of the seven awardees, will receive more than $1 billion to develop and deploy clean renewable hydrogen. One goal is to power sites like the state's busy ports with carbon-free power, NPR reports.
"That's a University of California-led consortium and they've already reached out to us about green hydrogen, and about maybe doing some production here, so we're going to be taking a really hard look at if we can meaningfully collaborate with them," Glick said, referring to the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems.
Glick also shared his thoughts about offshore wind power, the recent power outages caused by fossil fuel plant shutdowns, and partnering with Hawaiʻi businesses.
This story aired on The Conversation on Jan. 23, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
