The Southeast Hydrogen Hub coalition today announced it is among the limited number of organizations encouraged by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a full application in response to the $8 billion in funding for regional clean hydrogen hubs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The coalition, which includes major utility companies Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, Southern Company and the Tennessee Valley Authority, as well as Battelle, is working to organize the potential hub and secure funding. After submitting an initial concept paper in November, the coalition received the DOE notification of encouragement on December 27, 2022. Of the 79 concept papers the DOE received, 33 were encouraged to advance to the application stage. Formal proposals are due to the DOE in April 2023, with decisions expected in the fall.

A hydrogen hub in the Southeastern U.S. is expected to bring robust economic development benefits and jobs to the region. Hydrogen is attractive as an energy resource because it has immediate potential to accelerate decarbonization in the Southeast and across all sectors of the U.S. economy – including transportation, which generates the largest share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country.

The coalition’s concept paper described how the Southeast Hydrogen Hub will build on existing infrastructure utilizing technologies to advance the production, storage, transport and delivery of hydrogen to transition the energy economy toward a decarbonized future.

The coalition’s vision is to develop scalable, integrated projects at key locations across the entire Southeast in support of carbon-reduction goals and to encourage the broad-based development of a regional energy ecosystem that will allow members to deploy hydrogen as a decarbonization solution for customers and communities.

Other members of the Southeast Hydrogen Hub coalition will come from a growing list of industries in the region and the states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, as well as other Southeastern states that are interested in exploring and implementing hydrogen as an energy source. The coalition expects its membership to grow as news of the opportunity spreads and as interest in hydrogen intensifies.