The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a notice of intent for potential funding to accelerate the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of affordable clean-hydrogen technologies. This potential funding will reduce the cost and improve the performance of technologies for both hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cells and will advance the Hydrogen Shot goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade (“1 1 1”). It will also support the Biden Administration’s broader climate goals of achieving carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions across the entire economy by 2050.

DOE's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) will administer the potential funding, which is anticipated to focus on RD&D of key hydrogen delivery and storage technologies as well as affordable and durable fuel cell technologies. Fuel cell RD&D efforts will focus particularly on applications for heavy duty trucks, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and eliminate tailpipe emissions that are harmful to local air quality.

Potential topic areas include: 

  1. Hydrogen Carrier Development, to develop novel hydrogen carriers and/or catalysts that offer cost and performance advantages over conventional compressed gas or liquid hydrogen (LH2) systems
  2. Onboard Storage Systems for Liquid Hydrogen, to develop liquid hydrogen storage vessels and balance-of-plant hardware to enable low-cost, energy dense-LH2 storage on medium- and heavy-duty (MD/HD) on-road vehicles
  3. Liquid Hydrogen Transfer/Fueling Components and Systems, to develop liquid hydrogen transfer and vehicular fueling technologies and processes to enable high-flow liquid hydrogen transfers and/or liquid hydrogen fueling of MD and HD vehicles
  4. M2FCT: High Performing, Durable Membrane Electrode Assemblies with Innovative Low–Platinum Group Metal Catalysts for MD/HD Applications, which will develop membrane electrode assemblies that will reduce the cost and enhance the durability and performance of proton-exchange membrane fuel cell stacks for MD/HD applications.

For all topic areas, HFTO envisions awarding financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements. The estimated period of performance for each award will be approximately two to four years. DOE encourages applicant teams that include stakeholders within academia, industry, and national laboratories across multiple technical disciplines. Teams are also encouraged to include representation from diverse entities such as minority-serving institutions or through linkages with Opportunity Zones.

Learn more about this DOE notice of intent.