| Independently Powered Energy News

California has been a leader in hydrogen-fueled transportation and today is home to nearly all the hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in the United States. There are about 7,000 of these vehicles on state roads, and only another 600 spread across the whole country.

Seven thousand vehicles is very few, but hydrogen vehicles are likely to scale first in California, according to a new repor t released Oct. 5 by a coalition of 20 oil and gas, auto, fuel cell, and hydrogen companies. A Road Map to a U.S. Hydrogen Economy also touts the state’s early use of hydrogen fuel cells to power medium- and heavy-duty trucks and forklifts. It also promotes its use to fuel power plants and buildings.

The national report “lays out a compelling vision for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen as a clean energy solution across sectors,” Jeffrey Reed, University of California, Irvine, chief scientist Renewable Fuels and Energy Storage, told Current . “The projected cost reductions for renewable and low carbon hydrogen are achievable and some recent forecasts are even more bullish.”

California’s policies to slash transportation climate and other emissions have been the catalyst for growing hydrogen and other alternative energy markets within and outside the state. In the year 2000, the first research and development hydrogen station was built in West Sacramento. As of last year, the state had 40 retail hydrogen stations. Hydrogen fueling capacity at these stations has now doubled since just last year. The cost of building larger stations dropped by 40% since 2014, the road map notes.

Numerous vehicle manufactures, including Toyota, Honda, BMW, and Hyundai, have committed to developing and/or further expanding the production of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, both small and large, according to a California Air Resources Board report released last month.

However, the national report pays scant attention to the source of the hydrogen. That’s crucial, because when green hydrogen is not specified, the source is likely a fossil fuel, which would partially explain the support of fossil fuel contributors to the report.

In contrast, last June the California Energy Commission released a framework for accelerating the production of green hydrogen out to 2050. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are considered “a cornerstone for achieving the governor’s target of 5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road in California by 2030.” Currently, one third of the hydrogen dispensed must come from renewable resources.

Source UC Irvine Advance Power & Energy Program

But fuel costs for hydrogen are still high, at $16 per kilogram. However, the CEC projects it could fall to $6/kilogram by 2025 and $4/kilogram by 2050.

Hydrogen extracted from water by an electrolyzer powered by excess wind and solar-generated electricity is expected to be a cost-effective climate protection strategy. Driven by over 12 GW of green hydrogen mandates , European markets are bringing the electrolyzer cost down about 20% with each doubling of installed capacity.

Hydrogen, while very abundant, does not occur solo on Earth. It must be cracked out of water or a hydrocarbon. Today it is still produced mainly from fossil fuels. But when it is “produced with one third renewable content like in California, hydrogen for [fuel cell electric vehicles] now delivers 50 to 70% lower greenhouse gas emissions" than fossil fuel powered vehicles. Its impact is on par with charging battery EVs from the California electricity grid, the new US roadmap concludes.

The new U.S. hydrogen framework mentions only one green hydrogen project, which involves U.C. Irvine, and SoCal Gas. The project converts excess renewable power to hydrogen and blends it into the natural gas system. It is said to be the first “successful power-to-gas hydrogen pipeline injection project in the U.S.”

There also is the ground breaking plan by The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to convert the Utah-based 1,800 MW coal facility it operates into an 840 MW combined-cycle natural gas plant that will be switched over to burn 100% hydrogen by 2045. It will start with 30% hydrogen and 70% natural gas when it comes online in 2025.

Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association President Morry Markowitz said that replacing traditional fossil fuel use with hydrogen fuels would cut climate and other pollution, create $140 billion per year in revenue and 700,000 jobs by 2030.

Across the country, there are more than 550 MW of large-scale fuel cell power installed or planned as backup at power plants. There also are a number of hydrogen powered microgrids, and more than 8,000 small systems in 40 states that fuel primarily cell phone towers and remote communications networks.