Sen. Heinrich introduces legislation focused on advancing hydrogen research, production
New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich sees a clean energy future. He introduced legislation on Wednesday to support that vision.
The legislation — dubbed the Advancing the Clean Hydrogen Future Act of 2021 — would create an authorization of $200 million annually over a five-year span focused on the research, development, demonstration and deployment of electrolyzers in hydrogen production.
“Today, hydrogen is mostly produced chemically from natural gas, which also produces carbon dioxide, but there’s a better, cleaner solution: electrolyzers,” Heinrich said in a prepared statement. “That’s why I’m introducing this legislation to increase our ability to create clean hydrogen and reach our climate goals in New Mexico, and across America.”
The legislation, if passed, is intended to bolster the U.S. Department of Energy’s current research and development into electrolyzers, though the focus is on making scalable electrolyzers “more durable, efficient, and affordable.”
Hydrogen can be created multiple ways, including gasification and fermentation. But unlike those two options, electrolyzers use electricity to split water, which creates hydrogen without greenhouse gas emissions.
The legislation has support from clean energy groups such as Plug Power, the American Council on Renewable Energy and the Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition.
In May, Heinrich, fellow New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Luján and representative Teresa Leger Fernández sent a letter to the U.S Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm calling on President Joe Biden to make New Mexico a leader in hydrogen production and research.
The trio said the state’s national laboratories and research universities — as well as its solar wind and hydrogen developers — “make [New Mexico] uniquely suited to serve as the powerhouse of the nation’s emerging clean hydrogen economy.” In turn, more jobs in hydrogen production and research would be created in the state.
The letter was in response to Biden’s American Jobs Plan, which has a focus on creating 15 decarbonized hydrogen demonstration projects in distressed communities.
