US gives hydrogen a policy push

Loan guarantees, use of the Defense Production Act and hub funding all form part of White House deployment strategy

US efforts to accelerate green hydrogen production stepped up last week with the Biden administration taking three key steps to aid deployment. At the end of the week, the US Department of Energy (DOE) granted a $505mn loan guarantee to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah. The facility will combine a 220MW alkaline electrolyser with two salt caverns for storage. Utah-based Intermountain Power Agency will construct an 840MW hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plant—called IPP Renewed—at an adjacent site that will initially run on a blend of 30pc green hydrogen and 70pc natural gas, rising to 100pc green hydrogen by 2045. The DOE says the loan guarantee will be the first of its