June 23, 2025
Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided the Department of Energy with $8 billion to support the development of multiple, regional clean hydrogen hubs. These hubs are intended to be a network of clean hydrogen producers, consumers, and connective infrastructure. The Department’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) selected seven hubs to accelerate the large-scale production and end-use of clean hydrogen.
We initiated this audit to determine the extent to which the Department planned, resourced, and developed controls to help ensure the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) Program meets its goals and objectives.
We found that the OCED did not adequately plan, resource, or develop controls to help ensure the H2Hubs Program met its goals and objectives. Specifically, we found that the OCED and the H2Hubs Program had not conducted any programmatic risk assessments of its internal or external control environments. Additionally, the OCED and the H2Hubs Program had not conducted an assessment on its human capital posture to determine whether adequate staffing resources with the requisite skills and knowledge were available to meet current and future mission goals and objectives.
The issues occurred, in part, because the OCED encountered numerous challenges as a newly created office within the Department. These challenges included a limited number of available staff as well as a prioritized focus on selecting and awarding projects without ensuring adequate internal controls were in place.
Without conducting programmatic risk assessments or developing a workforce plan, the OCED and the H2Hubs Program may be susceptible to unidentified internal or external vulnerabilities that could negatively impact its ability to meet current and future goals and objectives. For instance, weaknesses identified could result in project delays and increased opposition, hindering the successful implementation of the H2Hubs Program.
To address the issues identified in this report, we made two recommendations related to developing and maintaining risk assessments and developing a comprehensive workforce plan that, if fully implemented, should help ensure that the H2Hubs Program meets its goals and objectives.