Sunita Satyapal, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office: This is a really historic time for hydrogen and fuel cells. Many of us have been in this industry for many years – many of you as well. And if you look at why, why so much interest in hydrogen now all of a sudden, and first we see very low-cost renewables available. And countries are beginning to see that to meet their climate goals they're going to need hydrogen for hard-to-decarbonize sectors, as renewables come on line for energy storage, and also to in terms of imports – so, some countries are recognizing that they will not be able to meet their climate goals just based on the clean electrons. They will need to import the clean molecule – so, hydrogen for instance. And so, you are seeing countries like Australia, Chile looking to export clean hydrogen to Japan, Korea, and others.  

So, these are some of the drivers that we have not seen previously. And that's driving the growth in electrolyzers: a 200-fold increase in electrolyzer deployments planned just in the last couple of years. And so, you can see 40 gigawatts planned by 2030. And these numbers keep changing. And it's not just production of hydrogen; we're also seeing the investments in distribution, end use application, and billions now that are being invested – and these numbers, again, keep changing. I just got this from McKinsey. And huge opportunity for emission reduction, revenues, jobs, and so forth.

So, what about the US? So, here we show that we're still very dependent on fossil fuels. You can see the renewable contribution. We have nuclear. But the main focus with the administration is, as you hear, very strong, concrete goals: 100 percent clean grid by 2035, net zero emissions by 2050. And I want to emphasize really the emergency. So, ten of the warmest years on record have occurred since 2005. Seven of those years have been since 2014. So, again, the climate crisis is driving that urgency. And in addition, as you heard, a very strong priority is ensuring benefits to all Americans. So, a strong focus on jobs, the Environmental Justice 40 Initiative – I'll talk more about this. But we need to address those that have been historically underserved or disadvantaged. So, that's a piece of everything that we plan to do.

So, in terms of emissions, we can see that in the US, again, we have multiple applications, multiple sectors. There's no one silver bullet and we need to address all of them. We have a portfolio approach. And hydrogen can provide benefits, again, in hard-to-decarbonize sectors – so, such as steel manufacturing, ammonia, heavy duty transport, storage. And we are all – I think you're all familiar by now with H2@Scale. And so, again, you can see, we'll produce hydrogen from diverse resources. And today we already produce ten million metric tons of hydrogen, about one-seventh of the global supply, and you'll see different scenarios for growth potential. And just as an example, another ten million would basically double today's solar and wind deployment. And so, we have a number of studies. Industry, as the secretary mentioned, showed tremendous opportunity for jobs, revenue, and more analysis underway.

And so, we released the DOE-wide program plan in November. It includes collaboration. We coordinate across multiple offices. And it's a very comprehensive strategy. So, we have both near-term, long-term across the entire value chain: production, delivery, storage, conversion. Again, very comprehensive. But the key driver is targets. So, I think many of you are familiar with the DOE targets, and I want to emphasize that we need to be competitive for us to have sustainable market penetration. And so, our top priorities are first low cost, clean hydrogen. And you already heard about the hydrogen shops announcement. I'll talk a lot more about that. But also, delivery and storage and then end use applications. And so, we'll be covering all of these aspects.

And when we go to our office we basically have three subprograms in our congressional budget request: fuel cell, that you'll hear about; hydrogen, which includes production, delivery, storage; and then what we call systems development and integration, which lets us accelerate the technology, safety, codes, and standards, workforce analysis, and analysis. So, that – all of that will help to enable H2@Scale.

So, in terms of budget we have a robust budget, about $150 million across the technology areas. And I'm very pleased to announce the president's FY22 request of $1975.5 million for our office. And in addition there's additional funding across the other offices. And we've been funding many of you out there, hundreds of companies, universities, and I did want to recognize all of the hard work, the benefit of the taxpayer dollars. So, we have over 1100 patents, 30 technologies commercialized. We see quite a bit more with potential, so we'll try to accelerate these to the market. And also emphasize the market uptake activities.

So, just as one example, a decade ago with the Recovery Act where we were able to cost share forklifts and backup power, now over 40,000 – shout out to Plug Power, for instance – in fact, every few seconds some customer – their major customers, again, Amazon, Walmart, and so forth – are refueling with hydrogen for their fuel cell forklift. Another example shout out for SimpleFuel, who won our H-Prize. So, they are also enabling infrastructure.

And so, as we go forward our priorities – again, a comprehensive strategy as we continue to focus on R&D – so, we have a cohesive effort with consortia. We have labs. We bring in industry, universities through FOAs – funding opportunity announcements. We'll continue with our existing consortia. But we just announced two new ones on electrolysis and fuel cells for truck. And then, we also have D&D – demonstrations and deployment. And so, you'll hear more about our many projects demonstrating technologies. Newest will be our super truck FOA, and more as well.

And then, finally what I call the enablers. So, here we have CRADAs, which stand for creative research and development agreements, with our national labs. And we have, again, a lot of different activities including workforce developments. But the key is really we still focus on targets. So, we wanted to continue to stress the need to meet these DOE targets. And stay tuned, we'll talk also about the EJ40 targets.

So, we'll start with R&D, give you a snapshot here, again, based on the targets. We have in the green what's needed and then every year we assess the state-of-the-art technology based on the progress at high volume. So, that's what the orange shows. And all of these slides will be available online. And then, at low volume where we are – so, we still need to reduce costs, both R&D and deployment, at scale. And there's been a lot of progress. So, if you look historically, huge cost reductions – again, thanks to many of you out there in the audience – but we're still not quite there. In some cases we've had budget changes, but we still need quite a bit of cost reduction in addition to scaling up.

And so, I'll let me talk about two of the new initiatives, and you'll hear a lot more of course throughout the week and later in the afternoon.

First is the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck Consortium. So, instead of focusing on the light duty we need much higher durability for long haul trucks. So, you can see a lot of the companies here. We have the national labs. A really focused concerted effort on how do we get trucks, fuel cell trucks commercially viable and deployed across the US.

The second is H2NEW, and here we'll continue our hydrogen consortium, some materials and innovation, but here we're focusing on integration and manufacturing and scale-up – so, in collaboration with AMO. And we'll bring in FOAs and CRADAs to ramp up progress in electrolyzers. You can see also labs. Again, very strong focus on targets.

So, next let's talk about the D&D aspect. So, here let's take a look. Every year we show a snapshot of where are we in the US. And you can see thousands of fuel cells across different applications. And again, this is just one snapshot. Most states have hydrogen from SMRs. We have three caverns – the world's largest storage cavern in Texas. And we're starting to look more carefully at demand opportunities.

So, what's new since the last time we met is we launched even more H2@Scale projects. And you'll hear more throughout the week, but to give you a flavor, the first ferry refueling with an electrolyzer on a floating barge; Texas with renewables, renewable natural gas; a data center with Microsoft; a couple of projects to enable steel production; three nuclear projects, including one in New York; and then workforce development. And in many of these projects we're actually helping to enable electrolyzer deployments. And so, I'm pleased to announce that – for the first time an updated industry peer-reviewed map showing where the electrolyzer – PEM electrolyzer deployments are, larger – over – at least 120 kilowatts and above. And you can see again growing size – the largest, 120 megawatts planned in New York. So, a lot of excitement and a lot of interest in electrolyzer deployments.

But besides the traditional grant mechanism I do want to emphasize – and you'll see this much more emphasized throughout DOE – is our Loan Program Office. And here we're looking at financing to allow basically access to capital. It can be different to get access to a commercial lender with such high risk projects. And we're very excited to have Jigar Shah, who joined DOE under this administration. Many of you may know him. He was the former founder and CEO of SunEdison, a very well-known investor, and a lot of experience, and very supportive of hydrogen and fuel cells. And so, again, billions available for high debt-to-equity ratio investment or financing. So, feel free to go to the LPO or my colleague Monique to get more information.

So, third – so, I'm going to talk about the enablers. And so, here I want to show a few examples and talk about first of all the national labs. And here we have amazing capabilities: 50 Nobel Prize winners, unique facilities. And so, we're offering all of this to the entire industry: energy labs, security labs, the science labs. So, tremendous potential, not just for science but also to help and de-risk technology adoption and demonstration.

So, I have a couple of exciting announcements today that we saved just for the plenary. And one enabler is this platform for integration and de-risking deployments. So, here, for instance, at the ARIES facility we are looking at enabling solar/wind megawatt scale electrolyzers integrating with end uses and helping to de-risk before industry deploys at scale. At INL we have a thermal integration facility for high temperature electrolysis. And then, as one example, at NETL we have REACT, a reaction chemistry facility that includes, for instance, microwave reaction methods for hydrogen production, and also ammonia production. So, these are just a few examples.

And what I'd like to do is – wait for the drumroll here. So, for – hot off the press today we would like to announce we just posted another CRADA call, that we will have up to $12 million available over 3 years and a total of 14 projects. And what we'll do is we are soliciting these topics here – so, demonstrating the testing validation at these facilities, as well as risk assessment; modeling for H2@Scale – safety has always been a question; and then next generation sensor technology. So, feel free to take a look at the website. Proposals are due July 19.

And in addition, as an example from the previous CRADA calls I wanted to highlight a couple of success stories: the HyBlend and H-Mat Consortia. So, H-Mat is looking at hydrogen materials compatibility – so, for instance, hydrogen with steels and polymers addressing embrittlement issues. And most recently we announced the HyBlend Initiative. So, they're looking at hydrogen blending with natural gas. For instance, 20 percent in the US natural gas pipeline could enable doubling renewable energy penetration. And there are a lot of questions. So, what kind of materials should we use for our pipeline? What level of hydrogen or concentration is acceptable? So, there's just so much interest from utilities, already over – well over 40 partners. This keeps changing as well. And so, some of the plans will include a database, tools, really to help inform decision-making in terms of materials compatibility and blending.

And safety has been a question. We get so many requests from stakeholders about safety. And so, as another example of an enabler I wanted to, again, remind you of the Center for Hydrogen Safety. So, here we have, again, a lot of activity. Over 60 partners now global. So, a very close collaboration with Europe, with the Hydrogen Council, industry, many countries – in fact, with AIChE access to over 100 countries, 60,000 members. And providing training materials – so, incidents, lessons learned without attribution – so, to any company or any country. So, we really encourage membership. It's open, again, to any organization. So, feel free to go to the website. I think this is one really important point where I say "How do we raise the tide so all the ships go up and share as much as possible?"

And when it comes to safety, again, hydrogen is a fuel just like any other fuel but it has to be handled properly, so there are regulatory areas and different agencies involved. And in fact, different agencies have jurisdiction and regulatory authority across the different components of the supply chain. So, when it comes to pipelines or transport or storage, that we have a number of different agencies, offices involved. And so, here I'm very pleased to commend Sandia, announce our report that we funded to look at the gaps. I mean, there still are gaps that need to be addressed if we are going to have widespread, commercially viable hydrogen across the nation. So, feel free to take a look at, again, at the AMR. We provide some highlights on what's new.

And I do want to emphasize, again, the whole theme of collaboration and collaborating with the other agencies. So, for those who are not aware, we actually have an interagency working group. It's been meeting for well over a decade, probably 15 years at least. Pete Devlin from our office is the coordinator. And you can see there's quite a bit of additional funding, over $40 million, with the other US federal agencies. And so, we share information on programs, collaborate on joint projects. And you'll hear later on during the AMR we had a lot of good feedback on the interagency panel. So, thanks again for all of you online from the other agencies.

And you can see here some examples. And I'll just highlight one, an exciting project that we're cofounding across agencies called H2Rescue. So, this is an example of a truck, a hydrogen truck that could go to a disaster site and provider power, heat, even water. So, again, a good example of how we could potentially impact a disadvantaged community and address disaster mitigations. So, please stay tuned for the interagency activity.

So, finally, last but not least I want to emphasize another example of an enabler, and you'll hear a lot more about this, and that's analysis. So, the rigorous analysis that we fund is so critical. A shout out to Amgad, Mark, Chad, so many people. And so, total cost of ownership analysis. You'll hear throughout the week how does that compare versus fuel cells? How do we really get the cost down to help guide the R&D, the total cost of ownership, not just the fuel cells. And then emissions. How do we really look at reducing CO2? We need the complete life cycle analysis. So, for instance, diesel, you can see with SMR if you have completely renewable electricity, again, you can see across different types of vehicles the potential benefit. And it's not just CO2. I want to emphasize the importance of criteria pollutants as well. So, here too you can see an example with diesel from transit buses and then if we went to fuel cells.

And I have another exciting announcement today, which is unveiling a tool, two new tools. So, again, in the spirit of enabling progress across the board we have a tool developed by NREL, StoreFAST – financial assessment scenario tool, to look at the benefit of long-duration energy storage across different technologies. So, here in this example it shows that hydrogen can be competitive at over 60 hours compared to alternatives here with batteries. You can go to the website here.

And then, one other new tool – so, cost, and the value proposition is really critical. And so, another new tool you'll hear about this week by PNNL is a way you can input the cost of, let's say, the electrolyzer, the complete facility, and then look at different opportunities for revenue potential. So, grid services, if you're selling that electricity, you have a fuel cell. And then other markets – so, looking at how can you bundle that demand, have offtakers, multiple offtakers, and look at the revenue potential? So, if, again, we get so many questions with investors interested in hydrogen – so, this is still being developed but it is available for beta testing. So, feel free to take a look and you'll hear a lot more in our analysis, subprogram overview.

And then, finally, in terms of analysis, it's really important as we go forward to think strategically about where does it make sense to start with early market penetration and show revenue potential. We have to show that value proposition. It's not just a few demos here and there; we have to get to accelerated scale.

So, in this example it looks at what are the tipping points where you can start to get traction with certain applications? So, for instance, at about $6.00 – again, this is for a scenario in the US market – you start to see the early adopters come in for medium/heavy duty vehicles. And then, around $5.00 in this example about 20 percent of the trucks use fuel cells. We would use five million metric tons of hydrogen; that's half of today's US use. If we used hydrogen to make sustainable aviation fuel, you can see the price points, the tipping points. Ammonia, synthetic fuels, steelmaking, for instance. And injection into the natural gas infrastructure. If we need to get to a clean grid by 2035 hydrogen energy storage will be critical. Again, this is just one scenario but I wanted to point to the fact that this is the type of analysis that we also support to really strategically look at where and in what applications can we ramp up scale across the nation.

And so, the bottom line is we really need to get less than $2.00 per kilogram for many of these, but even $1.00 – and you'll hear a lot more from NREL and Argonne and some of the market supply and demand analysis – but that is what we need. And that was the basis for the Hydrogen Energy Earthshot. So, we know other countries have announced $1.50. Companies have also announced $1.50 and – or less. But in the US we have such low cost natural gas that we really need to have low cost hydrogen to have a sustainable market beyond just the early subsidy phase.

And so, as you heard with the secretary's announcements, President Biden asked the secretary to speed the development of critical technologies to tackle the climate crisis. And so, as you heard, for those who were able to join this morning – again, the first time we've had the Secretary of Energy at the AMR – she launched the Hydrogen Energy Earthshot, the first of a series of energy earthshots, and it is appropriate because for the geeks in us, which I can speak for all of us, I think, at the AMR, hydrogen is element number one, the most abundant element in the universe, and so it's very fitting that the Hydrogen Shot, or Hydrogen Energy Earthshot, is $1.00 per one kilogram of hydrogen in one decade.

And so, let's look at how do we actually get there. And so, this is one scenario. And there are many examples – again, you can look – there's so many different values for the cost of hydrogen from electrolysis. And this is our baseline here. At a conservative cost, low volume CapEx of $1,500.00 a kilowatt, electricity at $0.05 a kilowatt-hour – and again, there are various assumptions here; we have provided a lot of detail – and if we can reduce the cost of electricity – again, if we can meet our targets for electrolyzers and get down to $0.03 and even $0.02 a kilowatt-hour, which is the SunShot goal, we can actually get to $1.00 a kilogram. So, it is possible. But it's very challenging.

And so, just to look at this cost reduction in CapEx we see major companies announce gigawatt-scale factories, so – and we've gotten a lot of input from companies. And so, let's look. We need both deployments – so, for instance, this is, again, just one scenario – if we can get the scale, economies of scale, we can cut CapEx. And we still need stack innovations and BOP innovations. That can get us to $2.00. And again, we have a lot of targets. We're going to be counting on all of you to make this happen. But it's going to be really difficult to get to $1.00.

And you'll see – again, this is one example analysis, but you can see the complexity. There are many different pieces. It's not just one silver bullet that will get us there. And so, looking at getting to volume – again, this is not just in-the-laboratory type of hydrogen shot. We have to get to volume. And we're targeting $1.50 by 2030. So, we're not quite there. We still need to get the cost down. And it's not just – so, we need both scale and R&D.

And so – but it's not just electrolysis. I do want to emphasize that it's an all-hands-on-deck approach. And so, our Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Office is looking at – SMR today is really, really cheap. And so, we need to get the cost down, but more importantly we have to get the carbon emissions down, a 90 percent reduction compared to today, for example. And so, looking at both CCS and then ideas like co-gasification with waste – so, biomass, but also other waste, as you hear in the plenary – so, plastics and so forth. So, there's a lot more analysis underway, but again, you can see scenarios of how can we get the cost down, and different technologies to help get us there, reduce carbon and other emissions as well.

And then, finally, we are also looking at completely innovative approaches. So, we have the basic science community. What if you completely – again, longer term – eliminated the electrolyzer and went directly to direct PEC; thermochemical water splitting – a lot of interest there; and then even microbial electrolysis? So, again, it's an all-hands-on-deck approach for different opportunities.

So, we have the RFI – another exciting announcement, just announced today. Only one month available – high priority here – to get your feedback. And we'll be looking very strategically, where can we ramp up large-scale demonstrations in the US – so, you can see solar, wind, nuclear, natural gas, CCS? So, potentially have co-located CSS. And then, look at end users – so, strong interested in co-location. How can we really reduce emissions? Diversity, equity, inclusion, jobs. All of that science and innovation is included. So, again, it is across the board.

And so, our next step – this is very exciting for us – for Hydrogen Shot stakeholder engagement is we will get the RFI responses. You'll hear more at Office of Science; we'll have a roundtable. We plan a summit, a Hydrogen Shot summit. And then, a lot of regional analysis. A lot more stakeholder engagements, you can see, online. And the key is to include all of the stakeholders – so, industry, labs, universities. There are many new regional coalitions, labor groups. I really want to emphasize the EJ community and the inclusive strategy that we have here.

So, speaking of DEI – or diversity, equity, and inclusion – I do want to pause here for a minute and really recognize it's been a very difficult year. And we don't have – as human beings we don't have two brains, one for work and one for life. And so, recognizing we had Covid but we also in the US – we've had some really shocking and disturbing events – we had George Floyd and others, we had the Capitol Riot – and I really want to pause for a second and reflect. It really shook many of us – and worldwide, really – to the core. And it's important to take action. We just cannot sweep it under the rug and we – and just assume that some of these issues will go away. So, it is such a high priority for the administration and for all of us here. And I really would like to make a request for all of you worldwide to help address – give us feedback on how can we help address some of these challenges?

And so, there is a new map, a new index available. You can go to this website and you can click on these regions that show areas where there are very disadvantaged and distressed communities. So, these are people who have suffered. There are economic issues, pollution, environmental justice issues. And so, we are planning to in our FOAs, lab calls, CRADA calls, we're trying to do our best to encourage broader engagement, demonstrate benefits, and we would like to request your help. Again, any ideas you have – and as you're thinking about projects, please do consider opportunities to benefit some of these areas.

And I do want to recognize some of you who have already demonstrated leadership and commitment to help resolve some of these challenges and give a shout out to CTE and UPS. We have a project here also co-funded with California for 15 UPS fuel cell delivery vans. And you'll hear more about this later this week, but they have five trucks built; they're going to do more. And these are in two disadvantaged communities. So, again, there's scores and – so, for tracking of this. And then, looking at the impact – so, how much CO2 and pollution and diesel can be saved. So, a big congratulations to CTE and UPS for your leadership.

Second, I would like to also congratulate Tommy Rockward and Los Alamos and NNSA on their program and announce today that we plan to collaborate and add funding to this program. A hundred students, this program encourages minorities, historically Black colleges and universities, HBCUs, provides training. We provide R&D opportunities through hydrogen. Again, you can see 100 students, a lot involved in fuel cells. And I wanted to showcase – I don't know, Tommy, if you're listening – but I'll also mention, if any of these scholars are there, congratulations. And also, a shout out to André and to Plug Power, who just hired André.  And what we are going to be doing is helping to add funding to help transition these scholars to the industry labs and to the hydrogen fuel cell industry. Again, it's about jobs: How can we make an impact?

Another exciting announcement today is also on workforce development. It's a partnership with the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge. And here we have a $20 million EERE award – $2.6 million from our office – and this will develop a national model for R&D and workforce development from the technician level all the way to the graduate level – so, interdisciplinary.

And here too I have an exciting announcement, just today for the AMR. If there are any students, postdocs out there, we have a fellowship in partnership with UT-Oak Ridge, and also encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusion. And this is in partnership with RISE for the Rose Fellowship. Some of you may remember I announced this a few years ago in honor and memory of Bob Rose, the founder of the US Fuel Cell Council. So, again, a good opportunity.

And finally, the other opportunity I want to mention is the International Early Career Network through IPHE, which is an international partnership since 2003, over 20 countries. And this is entirely run by students, postdocs, early career professionals. You can see the chair and co-chair here. So, if there are any students, postdocs, early career professionals, feel free to go to IPHE.net and join. Again, it's a good opportunity to network worldwide, their panels, and share information on career opportunities. We need the next generation of leaders in the hydrogen and fuel cell space.

And so, I want to end with the importance of really global collaboration and acknowledge many of the partners we have. I know even though this event is really for the DOE participants, and when we speak we're really talking to all of you, the researchers, the reviewers, all the PIs – and again, sorry we can't see you in person this year – but we also recognize that there are a lot of countries – in fact, 48 countries and over 2000 people registered throughout the week. And so, I do want to stress and appreciate the global collaboration.

And here too there is so much that's happened since we last met. So, a lot of activity – IEA, the Clean Energy Ministerial, Hydrogen Energy Ministerial, Mission Innovation just announced: a hydrogen mission, a shipping mission. And highlight for just as an example our collaboration with Europe – so, harmonizing codes and standards. We have our labs engaging in industry as well on harmonizing protocols, especially for heavy duty fueling. And as other examples for awareness we have a regulations, codes, standards, and safety working groups and an outreach working group.

So, looking at harmonizing codes and standards, we can't afford to have different nozzles in different countries. And looking at the gaps, where are the gaps, so that we can collectively fund whatever R&D is needed and develop the right, appropriate harmonized codes and standards. So, that gap analysis is happening. And most recently – in fact, all the countries voted on this when we meet with our counterparts – and a task force was established to facilitate international trade of hydrogen. So, here especially as we see so much interest from many countries – as I said, Australia, Chile, others – to export hydrogen, countries and companies are looking at what's the actual CO2 footprint of that hydrogen? Can we have a guarantee of origin? And so, here the goal is to have a common analytical framework to determine the emissions so – again, so we're all defining the boundary conditions consistently and determining, again, what are the pathways? What are the actual emissions? And that can help to lead to a certificate of origin.

So, speaking of export opportunity, you will also hear that we're just starting to look at what is the potential for exporting hydrogen from the US? We've gotten requests from other countries as well. And you can see we are already a leader in LNG exports. So, the labs are starting to look at what is the potential and what are the costs? So, for instance, looking at 3000 nautical miles or 4000 nautical miles, Washington to Japan or the Northeast to Europe, what are the costs? What are some different pathways? And these are just preliminary numbers here, but potentially as low as $5.00 to $6.00 per kilogram. So, again, these are just examples of the types of analyses that we are starting to undertake.

So, in summary, our strategy and next steps include first of all accelerating the R&D to reduce costs and of course meet all the other performance criteria – durability, efficiency, and so forth. Second is – and here we really want to ramp up our ability to help de-risk the demonstrations, enable deployments. The industry is already doing a great job, so we want to continue really bringing our resources to bear. And then, three – and this I really want to emphasize – is strategic scale-up. So, how can we look at co-locating clusters – for instance, co-locating supply and demand – and for instance, ports. This was also recognized internationally. Europe announced a ports initiative which we are collaborating on. Enable infrastructure, low cost infrastructure. So, again, multiple sources of hydrogen, multiple end uses can drive down the infrastructure cost and help to determine how do we really progress and expand strategically and accelerate cost-effectively hydrogen across the US? So, again, the RFI feedback is really critical. That analysis will help us as we look forward. So, please do take a look at the RFI and give us feedback in all of these areas.

And I want to end really just again with the importance – this community, the hydrogen community in general has been so dedicated. And the intense tenacity, I guess is the word that I use, is finally, I think, about to pay off. So, I think for many of you and many of us who have been in this field for decades, I think we're really, really close. But I do want to emphasize that we really need all hands on deck, everyone in the same boat on the same river rowing in the same direction – so, I say that often. So, we need – no one individual, company, country can do it alone. It takes the whole orchestra, so to speak. So, we need government, industry, investors, researchers. We need really the entire globe.

So, I want to acknowledge, provide my heartfelt acknowledgement to our entire network of collaborators – so, multiple offices across DOE, the labs, 190 countries, 109 universities, a lot of regional, national organizations – so, FCHEA, the Trade Association. We've had fuel cell partnerships. And there are many more as well just in the last year. And I really wanted to acknowledge all of them. We'd like to engage much more with the labor groups, EJ community, our longstanding public-private partnerships, international. So, again, I really wanted to thank all of you.

And then, finally, last but not least, I wanted to acknowledge the entire office. This is – and you'll hear more from the program managers and of course all of the managers who will be moderators throughout the week. And here I really want to emphasize this is the best, most dedicated team, I think, in DOE. They're so hardworking. They're just so committed. I don't think people recognize how much they do. You are definitely getting your taxpayer dollars' worth in terms of the office and their support. So, I really, really appreciate them. And they have to put up with me, which is not very easy. So, I especially would like to give all of you guys a big thank you, and with that, ask you to save the date for next year's AMR – hopefully in person – so, June 6 to 9, 2022.

So, with that, thank you very much to all of you. And now what we're going to do is move to the next part of the agenda, which is the plenary panel with my colleagues. So, I will be right back. Thank you.

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