CHARLESTON — A coalition of natural gas and clean energy companies have taken the next steps in their plan to secure federal backing for a hydrogen hub project.

Members of the West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition including U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, Shelley Moore Capito and Gov. Jim Justice announced Tuesday that the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations for the regional clean hydrogen hub Funding Opportunity Announcement.

The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2, includes more than 40 partnering companies in the natural gas, energy, and manufacturing sectors; West Virginia University and Marshall University; local transit authorities; and the federal National Energy Technology Laboratory.

“West Virginians are immensely proud of our long history as America’s energy powerhouse and I am thrilled the Mountain State is continuing to pursue that legacy as the home of a regional clean hydrogen hub,” said Manchin, D-W.Va. “With ARCH2’s submission to the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub program, I am confident the Department of Energy will conclude there is nowhere better suited to host the growth of this industry than the Appalachian region.”

“West Virginia is uniquely positioned to host a regional clean hydrogen hub, and I am confident it would make a tremendous impact in our communities, further strengthen our energy sector, and continue the proud tradition of energy generation in our state,” said Capito, R-W.Va. “I look forward to DOE’s assessment of ARCH2’s application, and I will continue to support efforts to bring this project to the Mountain State.”

“I want to congratulate the ARCH2 team for completing the necessary application to compete for a regional hydrogen hub, which is a significant step closer to advancing the future of energy production in West Virginia,” Justice said. “The establishment of a hydrogen hub enables our state to continue being an energy powerhouse, and we’re uniquely positioned to work closely with neighboring states. Thank you to everyone involved in our efforts to secure a bright future for energy production in West Virginia.”

The ARCH2 project, announced last September, would take advantage of the state’s access to natural gas supplies and existing infrastructure to manufacture blue hydrogen and store the carbon emissions underground.

Blue hydrogen, one of several ways to manufacture hydrogen, uses natural gas to extract hydrogen as a clean energy source for a number of industries, including steel and metals production. It can also be used for long-term storage of energy with hydrogen fuel cells. The byproduct of hydrogen production is water with no carbon emissions. Instead of greenhouse emissions from the process being emitted into the atmosphere, emissions would be collected through carbon capture and sequestration.

West Virginia is in the running for a regional hydrogen hub demonstration project. The West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Coalition submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Energy in 2022 to land one of the regional hubs. ARCH2 has until April 7 to submit a full application to the DOE. Preselection interviews will occur this summer, with selectees to be notified in the fall.

The federal project is funded with $9.5 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including up to $8 billion for the Regional Hydrogen Hub program. Each hub is required to demonstrate the production of clean hydrogen and demonstrate the use of clean hydrogen. Lawmakers were able to insert specific language that requires at least one hub to be placed in the Appalachian region.

Both Manchin and Capito were active in the negotiations with President Joe Biden for the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and signed into law at the end of 2021.

“As I crafted and negotiated the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, advancing hydrogen power and establishing a hydrogen hub in West Virginia was exactly the type of impact that I knew we could create,” Capito said. “ARCH2’s application submission is another step in the right direction, and it is something I have consistently supported.”

The $737 billion Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by Biden last summer and negotiated by Manchin, also expanded the 45Q tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration projects. Changes made to the 45Q tax credit include the dollar amount per ton for storage in saline geologic formations, utilization by industrial and power projects.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law made these hubs possible, and my Inflation Reduction Act will ensure our nation’s energy security by encouraging innovation in hydrogen and other groundbreaking energy technologies,” Manchin said.

Despite the optimism about the potential benefits of a hydrogen hub, there remains skepticism about whether the hydrogen manufacturing process can be made cost effective and continue to encourage reliance on fossil fuels.

“The stage is set for America to vault into the emerging global clean hydrogen market, and a good deal of spotlight is on its implementation of the H2Hubs program,” wrote Rachel Fakhry, a senior advocate for the climate and clean energy program at the National Resources Defense Council, in a Jan. 10 post. “But it remains to be seen whether the hydrogen course that we are charting will support an affordable transition to a clean economy and benefits to our communities, or whether it will help prop up fossil fuels and cannibalize gains from other corners of the clean energy transition.”

Fakhry said the DOE should prioritize applications that use green hydrogen – using renewable energy sources to manufacture hydrogen – over applications that would foster the use of fossil fuels for hydrogen production.

“DOE should strongly prioritize the deployment of “green” hydrogen with a carbon intensity of zero or as close to zero as possible,” Fakhry wrote. “Green hydrogen production emits virtually no GHGs (greenhouse gasses) and air pollution; it is therefore the hydrogen resource most strictly aligned with U.S. goals of a net-zero GHG economy by 2050 and protecting the health of communities.”