NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., will detail the Lab’s contributions to building a sustainable energy future with hydrogen power derived from fossil energy resources at the second Hydrogen Americas Summit Oct. 10 and 11 at Washington, D.C.

Organized by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Sustainable Energy Council, the summit will convene government representatives, hydrogen and energy stakeholders, service providers and end-users to identify opportunities and gather insights into the latest projects and policy developments crucial to propelling the hydrogen power industry forward. Anderson will participate on a National Lab Directors Spotlight Panel entitled, “U.S. Research Labs Driving Hydrogen Advancement,” alongside the directors from the National Renewal Energy Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory.  The panel will show how these applied national laboratories are helping to commercialize and de-risk hydrogen technologies, making them more attractive for investment by the private sector.

“This is a pivotal moment as the country undergoes an unprecedented energy transformation in the face of climate change and new technologies, and NETL has been a major accelerator of new hydrogen innovations,” Anderson said. “The immensity of the task before us means no one entity can do it all alone. Events like the Hydrogen Americas Summit are splendid opportunities for collaboration and networking that allow NETL to share its discoveries while learning from others.”

Hydrogen is an alternative fuel that has very high energy content by weight that can be used to store and deliver usable energy. NETL’s hydrogen research covers a range of topics associated with the drive to put hydrogen to work to meet the nation’s energy needs. When used in fuel cells, for example, hydrogen can be used to power buildings, cars, trucks, portable electronic devices and backup power systems.

In addition to hydrogen powered fuel cell applications for the transportation and distributed power sectors, hydrogen is also expected to be a key contributor to abating emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors, such as industrial process heating, large scale power, and sustainable fuels and chemical production. Due to the many uses of hydrogen, as well as its many production methods, hydrogen has sometimes been referred to as the ‘Swiss army knife’ of decarbonization.

NETL and its partners in industry and academia are researching improved methods for capturing carbon dioxide from fossil-based hydrogen production processes, as well as methods to safely and cost-effectively store the hydrogen and CO₂. Combined with carbon capture, hydrogen derived from natural gas has been identified as a viable energy source to address environmental concerns while meeting the needs of the modern economy.

In the area of system analysis and scaling technologies, NETL has developed numerous tools to assist with managing the hydrogen value chain. These range from production, transport and storage to utilization and carbon emission management. These computational and data tools assess techno-economic and life-cycle analyses, economic and market analyses, resource availability, system design and optimization.

Interest in hydrogen power is growing around the world. More than 13 countries in North and South America have announced Hydrogen Strategies. Furthermore, the U.S. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which included $8 billion in funding for the development of Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, has further cemented the key role that hydrogen will play in the region’s energy transition.

Public and private investments are pouring into the hydrogen market. This means it’s a crucial time to establish regional cross-sector collaboration and business partnerships to enable a wide range of industries across the Western Hemisphere to decarbonize and transition into net-zero energy systems.

With this focus, the Hydrogen Americas Summit is designed to facilitate alliances between industry and government through interactive panels, project spotlights and multiple roundtable debates ranging from clean hydrogen investments and new technologies to commercial opportunities in decarbonizing hard to abate sectors.

During the Hydrogen Americas Summit, Anderson will also discuss how the transition to hydrogen and decarbonization could benefit the nation’s historic energy-producing regions through large scale projects. DOE’s investments in hydrogen, carbon capture & storage, and other energy decarbonization projects provides the opportunity to bolster disadvantaged communities by ensuring that environmental concerns are handled equitably, training is provided to support local job growth, and energy communities are engaged in shaping projects that return benefits to the region. In addition to his duties as Director of NETL, Anderson also serves as the executive director of the Administration’s Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. He said the work to harness hydrogen with technologies and practices that use the nation’s fossil energy supplies is crucial to making sure the energy transformation benefits everyone.

“America’s mining and power plant communities built our cities and industries and kept the lights on for generations, so we owe it to them to ensure a transition to a net-zero carbon economy leaves no one behind,” Anderson said. “The opportunities that hydrogen production, transportation, and use present to local stakeholders to leverage community infrastructure is substantial and could provide significant new employment opportunities.”

The IWG was established by Executive Order 14008, Sec. 218 in January, to ensure the shift to a clean energy economy that will provide good-paying union jobs, spur economic revitalization, remediate environmental degradation, and support energy workers in coal, oil and gas and power plant communities across the country. The IWG prepared an initial report that includes recommendations to catalyze robust economic activity and support workers in America’s energy sector. Under Anderson’s leadership, NETL researchers have advanced a range of technologies to ensure affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans