Hawai’i company gets $1.6M clean hydrogen fuel production funding from DoE

Simonpietri Enterprises is receiving the funds to broaden its waste-to-energy strategy into H2.

Simonpietri Enterprises has received $1.6 million in US Department of Energy (DoE) funding for the production of clean hydrogen fuel that will use demolition and construction waste.

The funding expands the company’s existing waste-to-energy practices on behalf of several clients.

The company is a woman-owned small business based in Hawai’i that provides business and technical consulting services to guide companies in waste management, defense, transportation and fuels.

“Treated, painted, and glued lumber and other organic waste from construction and demolition debris can’t be burned in a biomass power plant, so today most of it goes straight into landfills all across the US — and Hawai’i is no exception,” said Joelle Simonpietri, the company’s president.

“This idea, to make fuel out of construction and demolition debris rather than stick it in the ground, was born here in Hawaiʻi to solve Hawaiʻi problems: too many landfills that need to be expanded or relocated in these islands we call home, not enough local supply of renewable fuel to replace imported fossil fuels, and no local supply of renewable fuel that can be used in airplanes,” she added.

The company was one of 15 to receive DoE funds for clean hydrogen fuel development projects.

The DoE awarded a total of $32 million to research and development projects that are focused on H2. Over the last two years, it has distributed more than $80 million as a component of the Biden Administration’s 2035 goal for achieving net zero in the energy sector.

“Clean hydrogen is an incredibly versatile tool for decarbonizing our economy and tackling the climate crisis,” said Jennifer M. Granholm, US Secretary of Energy. “DOE is investing in projects that will help bring down the cost of producing clean hydrogen, increase its availability as an affordable, low-carbon fuel for power production, and generate good-paying jobs.”

The $2 million Simonpietri Enterprises research project is being co-developed with the University of North Dakota. Its primary focus is to use gasification technology for the transformation of large volumes of highly contaminated organic waste into locally sourced clean hydrogen fuel.