Hydrogen, anyone?

Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Jul 06, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell A "green hydrogen" renewable energy production facility is shown. | audioundwerbung/iStock The Biden administration has cooked up a plan to lead the world in hydrogen production. But analysts worry that buyers may not follow suit. To shore up demand, the Energy Department is sinking $1 billion into efforts to assuage potential hydrogen customers’ fears about future availability and price fluctuations, writes David Iaconangleo. The administration plans to award as much as $7 billion this fall to build the nation’s first clean hydrogen hubs, with the hope of eventually creating a national network of low- to zero-carbon hydrogen. President Joe Biden’s climate law also offers a generous subsidy for clean hydrogen production and billions of dollars in loans and other incentives for international investors to put money into the budding industry. Without buyers, however, such efforts could amount to little more than an expensive experiment. Earlier this year, a report led by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz threw cold water on the idea that hydrogen was ready to become a cheap fuel source for a range of polluting industries. While federal tax credits would slash costs, the report found it was not enough to persuade most power companies, oil refiners and steel producers to pick the fuel over other, carbon-intensive options. The risk has yet to thwart producer interest. The sprawling clean energy subsidies are even luring European producers to U.S. shores. As Gabriel Gavin and Ben Lefebvre reported Wednesday, a Norwegian manufacturer chose Michigan, not Europe, as the site of a nearly $500 million factory that will make the equipment needed to extract hydrogen from water. Other European-based companies are considering following suit. While pure hydrogen is by definition carbon-free, the production process sometimes uses fossil fuels, generating greenhouse gas emissions. Using solar, wind or other renewable power to produce the fuel could position hydrogen as a reliable, climate-friendly option to help power the nation’s grid. At least, the Biden administration hopes so. It has called hydrogen a “cornerstone” of its aim to slash power-sector emissions by 2035 and reach net-zero climate pollution economywide by midcentury.   It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Ben Lefebvre breaks down U.S. and European interest in hydrogen, why the U.S. is now a more attractive investment target, and the potential consequences of this fierce transatlantic competition. Power Centers Then-President George H.W. Bush attends the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. | Dennis Cook/AP Photo This hasn't changed since the Nixon era Recently declassified government documents reveal that U.S. resistance to compensating poorer countries for environmental damage stretches as far back as the 1970s when Richard Nixon was president, writes Sara Schonhardt. An analysis of the documents from the National Security Archive, a nonprofit watchdog group at George Washington University, said the records "shed light on the various ways that the U.S. government has tried to avoid getting what President George H. W. Bush called a ‘big bill’ for its environmental impacts." Biden dunks on GOP While touring a South Carolina plant that manufactures solar power technology Thursday, Biden ribbed Republicans in Congress for boasting about investments in their districts that were spurred by laws they voted against, writes Robin Bravender. Clean energy investments in Biden's climate law received zero GOP votes. “All those members of Congress who voted against it suddenly realize how great it is. And they're bragging about it. As my mother would say, ‘God love them,’” Biden said. Next up on Biden's tour: Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s backyard, where the president will attend the groundbreaking of a Georgia solar facility, writes Jennifer Haberkorn. Time to redistribute the wealth? In an annual report released Thursday, the European Commission concluded that existing income inequities worsened by climate change are a major threat to the European Union, writes Gregorio Sorgi. The EU executive body said that redistributing wealth could help alleviate record levels of inequality that are stifling social mobility and fueling political polarization. In Other News Too good to be true? New York state built Elon Musk a $1 billion solar panel factory. “It was a bad deal,” said state Sen. Sean Ryan, a Democrat who represents Buffalo. Heating up: Why a sudden surge of broken heat records is scaring scientists.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. A Nissan Ariya electric vehicle is parked on an auto dealer's lot in Manchester, N.H. | Charles Krupa/AP Photo The Congressional Budget Office found that federal electric vehicle subsidies will not be enough to achieve the Biden administration's goal of electrifying half the country's new vehicles by 2030. A new supercomputer for climate research will help scientists study the effects of solar geoengineering, a divisive idea for cooling the planet by redirecting the sun's rays. California regulators reached an agreement with a truck-makers’ trade group that will head off at least some legal challenges to the state’s emissions rules. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.       Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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