Courtesy - US Department of Energy.
INDIANAPOLIS — Hoosier leaders cheered Friday’s federal announcement that Indiana is among 16 states set to host assets for seven regional hydrogen hubs, but resident advocates scrutinized the initiative’s use of “blue” hydrogen and carbon sequestration.
The Biden administration is directing $7 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law to build the hubs, in grants that senior administration officials said Thursday would catalyze more than $40 billion in private sector investment.
Indiana is part of the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2), along with Illinois, Michigan and 70-plus public and private organizations. Its grant is up to $1 billion.
“We are ecstatic that Indiana is a beneficiary of this monumental investment,” Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a Friday news release. “… This grant could propel forward this project as a critical piece of this new hydrogen ecosystem.”
The hub will include blue hydrogen production “at or near” British multinational oil and gas company BP’s refinery in Whiting, Indiana, according to Holcomb’s office.
Blue hydrogen is made by converting natural gas into carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The hub will catch the carbon dioxide byproduct and store it deep underground rather than emit it into the atmosphere — as process known as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).
“We are thrilled that the U.S. Department of Energy awarded this grant to the MachH2 coalition,” BP Vice President of Hydrogen and CCC Tomeka McLeod said in the release. “Our proposed Midwest hydrogen hub can help decarbonize America’s industrial heartland while enhancing Indiana’s economy, creating jobs and attracting new businesses and investments to the state.”
McLeod thanked Holcomb and Indiana’s lawmakers for establishing a framework in 2022 regulating hydrogen-related CCS projects.
Although Biden’s and Holcomb’s administrations emphasized the “renewable” and “clean” nature of the hub, others were unconvinced.
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