One of hydrogen’s most important markets will be for use in heavy industry and among large users of energy, including steel and chemical production, automobile manufacturing, plastics and trucking, to name just a few. One of the criteria expected to be important in the DOE’s evaluation of potential hydrogen hubs is the availability of these “off-takers” in the regions under consideration for investment. The availability of pipelines, compressors, fractionation plants and other infrastructure is a second priority that will be needed to justify the DOE’s decision to invest in developing a regional hub facility. Storage and transportation infrastructure are also important factors in assessing the strengths of different areas of the country.
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Last, the availability of an adequate and trained workforce will be an important factor in evaluating a region’s current and future ability to support the development of hydrogen technologies.
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Western Pennsylvania Potential
A coalition of western Pennsylvania and international companies, initially made up of U.S. Steel, EQT Corp., Shell Polymers, Mitsubishi Power, Norway-based Equinor, GE Gas Power, and Marathon Petroleum Corp, started an alliance early this year to advance an initiative for the region to become a hub for hydrogen production and carbon-capture technologies.
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The group plans to promote the potential of the three-state Appalachian Basin to the DOE as a regional hub and pursue available federal funds that were included in the Infrastructure Law, and filed an Implementation Strategy Request for Information with the DOE in March regarding the development of a hydrogen hub in the Appalachian Basin.
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