By Steven Allen Adams, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The effort to kick-start a new hydrogen production industry in West Virginia and across the nation could be much harder to do under proposed rules for a tax credit meant to incentivize the new industry.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Treasury released guidance for the Clean Hydrogen Production Credit – known as the 45V hydrogen tax credit. The credit, included in the $737 billion Inflation Reduction Act, provides up to $3 per kilogram of hydrogen produced for projects that begin prior to 2033.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is driving American innovation in emerging industries to create good-paying jobs, strengthen U.S. energy security, and help the U.S. clear hurdles in our clean energy transition,” said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen in a statement Friday. “Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act are helping to scale production of low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and cut emissions from heavy industry, a difficult-to-transition sector of our economy.”
Hydrogen is a fuel that can be used to decarbonize manufacturing processes, such as steel and metals production, and heavy transportation. Hydrogen also can be used as a long-term fuel cell to store energy for future use. The byproduct of hydrogen is water.
There are several ways to produce hydrogen. The blue hydrogen process uses natural gas coupled with carbon capture and sequestration to capture greenhouse emissions from the blue hydrogen process and storing the emissions underground. The green hydrogen process uses renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, to extract the hydrogen.
