Text version of the Advanced Pathways-Opening Remarks from The Honorable Paul Tonko (D-NY) at the DOE Hydrogen Shot Summit, August 31, 2021.
Well, thank you, Eric. Thank you for the introduction. It's my honor to join with all of you today, with the panelists, with the participants. And certainly I thank Secretary Granholm, the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technologies Office, and the entire department's staff for its work on this initiative, as well as the invitation to participate in the Hydrogen Shot Summit.
I'm so excited by DOE's efforts and vision to move forward with this program, and we have seen with other successful DOE initiatives like Sunshot the success of the Hydrogen Earthshot will depend on successful, collaborative relationships amongst the department, our national labs, academic and research institutions, our state and local governments, and indeed the private sector.
So, this week's convening is an essential step. The good news is we know this process can lead to results. We have done it before. So, DOE investments began with the Recovery Act in 2009. Those helped reduce the cost of LED lightbulbs, for instance, by over 90 percent, of batteries and utility-scale solar by over 80 percent, and of onshore wind by over 70 percent. But now it is time to innovate the next generation of essential energy technologies, and we know this must be a partnership. Everyone will have a part to play in achieving an ambitious technology development and deployment roadmap. For my part, I have long supported development of the US hydrogen economy, not only because the economic potential exists but also because of the role I believe hydrogen is going to need to play to achieve a rapid and ambitious climate agenda. Hydrogen will likely be important to several difficult-to-decarbonize sectors and end uses – for instance, from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to fuels and feedstocks for heavy industry to helping support intermittent renewables in an increasingly clean electricity system.
But it will take a very robust DOE agenda to realize this potential. DOE can play a critical role in the expansion of the industry at every step along the way – those steps of course including R&D, demonstration, financial assistance to build domestic manufacturing capacity, early commercialization and widespread financing opportunities for production, for storage, delivery, and use of clean hydrogen. So, I am indeed very excited to hear the scientists and experts on this panel that are working on these innovations, as well as how policymakers can help accelerate their R&D breakthroughs to commercial breakthroughs at scale.
The good news here is the broader investment and climate-minded scientific community is acknowledging the opportunities around hydrogen and products are being developed as we speak. But just last month I got to see a fuel cell heavy-duty truck up close with Secretary Granholm. And last week I was able to pay a visit to Plug Power in Latham, New York, which I have had the privilege of representing at the state and federal levels of government since the company's founding some two decades ago. During this time I have seen them grow from a small startup to an essential service provider for some of the largest retail companies in the world.
But for our climate goals all this hydrogen infrastructure and the equipment and vehicles will need to be fueled by clean hydrogen produced at scale. And while I'm partial to the potential for hydrogen produced through electrolysis powered by zero-emission electricity I recognize Hydrogen Shot's "1-1-1" goal – a dollar for one kilogram of clean hydrogen in one decade – is very ambitious. It is so important that DOE continues to support development of all potential technologies and process pathways to produce very-low-emission hydrogen, and we need strategies to scale those productions and the end use opportunities. This will not be easy but the needs and the opportunities are just too great to ignore.
So, again, I thank DOE for its work to set this goal, convene this summit, and allow me to join with everyone today. I look forward to working together to ensure this target is achieved and we can unlock the potential, the great potential for low-emission hydrogen. Again, thank you, Eric and the team at DOE. And I'll turn it back to you and thank the agency and certainly Secretary Granholm for the awesome leadership on this agenda.
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