Science Blog -- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham Announces $350 Million in Hydrogen Research Projects

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham Announces $350 Million in Hydrogen Research Projects

4/27/2004

From: Joe Davis, 202-586-4940 or Thomas Welch, 202-586-5806, both of the U.S. Department of Energy

DETROIT, April 27 -- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced $350 Million in hydrogen research projects:

President George W. Bush's Hydrogen Research Initiative took center stage in Detroit today with Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announcing $350 million in nationwide funding for science and research projects to establish a hydrogen economy.

Abraham will make additional stops in Golden, Colorado and Los Angeles, California. There, he will speak to the National Hydrogen Association's meeting.

The $350 million represents nearly one-third of the President's $1.2 billion commitment in research funding to bring hydrogen and fuel cell technology from the laboratory to the showroom.

Selected through a merit-reviewed, competitive process, the projects involve 30 lead organizations and include over 100 partners. Recipients include academia, industry and DOE national laboratories. President Bush has proposed a multi-year research funding effort for program like FreedomCAR and the Hydrogen fuel initiative, to enable America to lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles that would free the U.S. from dependence on foreign petroleum.

"President Bush's Administration recognizes that a hydrogen economy has the long-term potential to deliver greater energy independence by reducing America's dependence on foreign sources of energy," said Energy Secretary Abraham. "It offers immense environmental benefits that current energy technologies cannot meet. This multi-million dollar commitment to research is a down payment on a more energy and environmentally secure future."

Key research areas include:

Hydrogen Storage

"Centers of Excellence" for exploratory research in hydrogen storage. Each center includes a DOE national laboratory lead and several university and industry partners. Responding to DOE's "Grand Challenge" solicitation, these centers will address the major technical barrier to on-board hydrogen storage - storing enough hydrogen to enable greater than 300 mile driving range without impacting cargo or passenger space. In addition, individual universities, research institutes, and small businesses will explore new materials for hydrogen storage. The DOE share for this National Hydrogen Storage Project is $150 million over 5 years with an additional private cost share of approximately $20 million.

Vehicle and Infrastructure "Learning" Demonstrations

"Learning demonstrations" that will provide important data to focus research efforts. The use of hydrogen as a transportation fuel and the development of fuel-cell vehicles will require extensive research and an implementation strategy. Automakers and energy companies will work together with their teams under this project to demonstrate integrated and complete system solutions operating in real world environments. These demonstrations will assess the research program's progress toward meeting the goal of making a commercialization decision by 2015. The expected DOE share is $190 million over 5 years with an additional private cost share of approximately $190 million.

Fuel Cell Research

Fuel cell research projects that address critical fuel cell cost and durability issues for consumer electronics and other applications. The DOE share is $13 million dollars over 3 years with an additional private cost share of approximately $10 million. These selections are in addition to the $75 million in fuel cell awards announced by Secretary Abraham last year.

Hydrogen Education

Hydrogen technology education projects include middle school and high school curricula and teacher professional development. These projects pair hydrogen technology experts with professional educators and experienced curriculum developers to create hands- on activities and lessons to engage students in the developing hydrogen economy. Teacher professional development is an essential component, as teachers nationwide will not only learn how to use the materials but also receive the training they need to build their expertise and enhance their ability to educate students. The hydrogen education projects also include the development of materials suitable for a general audience. These materials will help introduce the public to the hydrogen vision, as well as provide a better understanding of how fuel cells work; how hydrogen is produced, delivered, and stored; and the facts about hydrogen safety.

Secretary Abraham added, "The financial commitment of the private sector dramatically increases the probability of success that we will overcome the technology challenges in this important endeavor and achieve the President's vision."

HYDROGEN STORAGE GRAND CHALLENGE

Note: For full chart, go to http://www.doe.gov and click on Press Room or go to http://www.doe.gov/engine/content.do?PUBLIC_ID=15725&BT_CODE=PR_PRESSRELEASES&TT_CODE=PRESSRELEASE

Centers of Excellence

LANL/PNNL

Chemical Hydrogen Center

-- Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM)

-- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, WA)

-- University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA

-- UCLA (Los Angeles, CA)

-- UC-Davis (Davis, CA)

-- Penn State University (University Park, PA)

-- University of Washington (Seattle, WA)

-- University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)

-- Rohm and Haas (Philadelphia, PA)

-- Millennium Cell (Eatontown, NJ)

-- Intematix (Moraga, CA)

-- US Borax (Boron, CA)

SNL

Metal Hydride Center

-- Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, CA)

-- Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

-- General Electric (Niskayuna, NY)

-- University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI)

-- California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA)

-- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA)

-- HRL Laboratories (Malibu, CA)

-- University of Illinois (Champaign, IL)

-- Univ. of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon Univ. (Pittsburgh, PA)

-- NIST (Gaithersburg, MD)

-- University of Nevada-Reno (Reno, NV)

-- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN)

-- University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)

-- Intematix Corporation (Moraga, CA)

-- Brookhaven National Laboratory (Brookhaven, NY)

NREL

Carbon Center

-- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, CO)

-- California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA)

-- Duke University (Durham, NC)

-- Penn State University (University Park, PA)

-- Rice University (Houston, TX)

-- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)

-- University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC)

-- University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)

-- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN)

-- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA)

-- NIST (Gaithersburg, MD)

-- Air Products (Allentown, PA)

---

Individual Projects

-- Prime: TIAX LLC (Cambridge, MA); Partners: Gas Technology Institute (IL), Yale University (CT), University of Oklahoma (OK); Research Area: Lifecycle and cost analysis

-- Prime: University of Missouri (St. Louis, MO); Partners: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (WA); Research Area: New materials

-- Prime: University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT); Partners: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (WA); Research Area: New materials

-- Prime: Michigan Technological University (Houghton, MI); Partners: None; Research Area: Chemical hydrides

-- Prime: Gas Technology Institute (2 projects) (Chicago, IL); Partners: Superior Graphite Co. (IL), NEXGEN Fueling (MN); Research Area: Carbon, Off-board storage

-- Prime: Alfred University (Alfred, NY); Partners: Savannah River Technology Center (SC), Mo-Sci Corporation (MO), CERALINK (NY); Research Area: New processes

-- Prime: Carnegie Institute of Washington (Washington, DC); Partners: None; Research Area: New materials

-- Prime: Research Triangle Institute (Research Triangle Park, NC); Partners: State Scientific Research Institute (Moscow, Russia), ATK/Thiokol Propulsion (UT); Research Area: Chemical hydrides

-- Prime: State University of New York (Syracuse, NY); Partners: PoroGen, LLC (MA); Research Area: Carbon

-- Prime: TOFTEC, Inc. (Gainesville, FL); Partners: University of Florida, Gainesville (FL); Research Area: New processes

-- Prime: University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI); Partners: Northwestern University (IL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM); Research Area: New materials

-- Prime: University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA); Partners: Drexel University (PA), NIST (MD); Research Area: Carbon

-- Prime: University of California-Berkeley (Berkeley, CA); Partners: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (CA); Research Area: New materials

-- Prime: University of California-Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA); Partners: Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM); Research Area: New materials

---

Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project

Prime: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (Allentown, PA)