DOE awards $38 million to support fuel cell and hydrogen projects

More than 25 projects across the United States will receive funding.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that it has awarded $38 million in funds to support both new hydrogen projects as well as projects related to fuel cell technologies. In total, 28 projects in America will receive funding support.

The funding specifically supports early-stage research and development.

The DOE funding announcement was made by US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, while he was in Golden, Colorado touring the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

This particular round of funding isn’t meant to support just any hydrogen project. It is specifically being awarded for early-stage research and development of innovative hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The projects that were selected to receive funding focus on key early-stage technical challenges related to fuel cell membranes, reversible fuel cells, non-precious metal catalysts, and electrolyzers to generate hydrogen.

Additionally, funding has also been awarded for innovative concepts designed to enhance the efficiency and reduce the costs of hydrogen vehicle refueling infrastructure.

The fuel cell research and hydrogen projects fall into three main categories.

The early-stage research and development projects are split up into three topic areas:

• Platinum-Free Catalysts to reduced fuel costs
• H2@Scale: Hydrogen production and delivery infrastructure research
• Innovative fuel cell concepts

According to the official list of the winning projects, many of the projects received a million dollars or more in funding.

The company that received the highest share of DOE funding is Illinois-based Gas Technology Institute, which was been awarded $2,500,000 for its Free-Piston Expander for Hydrogen Cooling project. The company to receive the second highest amount of funding is South Carolina-based Greenway Energy. The DOE funding will support its Novel Metal Hydride Material Development for High Efficiency and Low-Cost Hydrogen Compressors project.

“As an energy carrier, hydrogen can help unite all of our nation’s abundant fossil, nuclear, and renewable energy resources,” said Secretary Perry, reported the DOE in an official statement.

“It is part of the Department’s diverse energy portfolio focused on providing affordable, reliable energy to American families and businesses.”

It will be interesting to see the outcome of this innovative fuel cell technology and hydrogen projects.