Appalachian Hydrogen Hub Opens in West Virginia

U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV) led the inauguration of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2, program office on Aug. 22. Last October, the U.S. Energy Department selected the hub for up to $925 million in federal funding under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, for projects in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

The inauguration comes a month after the department announced the release of an initial $30 million from the award to officially launch the hub in West Virginia. ARCH2, one of the seven major regional hydrogen hubs that received $7 billion from the IIJA funding, aims to cut nine million metric tons of carbon emissions annually.

Earlier this year, the department announced a consortium to design and implement demand-side support mechanisms for unlocking the market potential of the seven hubs. The initiative is intended to connect clean hydrogen hubs to prospective purchasers and also establish the foundation for broader private sector scale-up by providing price transparency and standardized contracts for projects.

The goal of these hydrogen hubs is to decarbonize sectors that are traditionally carbon-intensive, such as the manufacturing and transportation sectors. Currently, the Appalachian region is the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., which the hub can utilize to produce hydrogen from natural gas, called blue hydrogen.

The hydrogen hubs initiative includes several project sites under consideration with the partnership of several energy companies. Multinational gas company Air Liquide intends to construct and operate a hydrogen liquefaction facility, on-site storage, and loading facilities to serve consumers in the transportion sector. Empire Diversified Energy plans to produce hydrogen by converting biomass through pyrolysis at a facility in Follansbee, West Virginia. Enbridge Gas Ohio intends to generate hydrogen via electrolysis at a site in Canton, Ohio. CNX Resources Corp. has plans to produce hydrogen using autothermal reforming of natural gas at a site in southern West Virginia.