Delaware leaders address homegrown clean energy at in-person Town Hall

It’s been a big month for clean tech in Delaware. 

There was the CleanTech Innovation Ecosystem Summit at the Delaware Innovation Space, including Startup302’s Environmental Impact Finals, and the topic of clean energy took center stage (if only for a few minutes) at the Delaware town wall featuring the state’s congressional delegation, the governor and the attorney general. 

Also new: big biotech expansions in New Castle County, the First State’s first esports high school state championships and a Tech Council of Delaware fly-in to DC.

Keep reading to get the details, and don’t forget about next week’s Philly Tech Week presented by Comcast and the Technical.ly Builders Conference. Hop on SEPTA to get there while you still can!

A plea for more energy infrastructure

On Saturday, April 26, Delawareans had an opportunity to speak directly to state leadership at the first in-person town hall of the second Trump administration.

All of Delaware’s congressional leaders — Rep. Sarah McBride, Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester and Sen. Chris Coons — were present, as well as Gov. Matt Meyer and Attorney General Kathy Jennings.

Community members pressed the all-Democrat panel on several topics, dominated by opposition to the Trump administration and demands for more aggressive action in Congress, as well as protest against the US role in the ongoing Gaza war.

Clean energy also came up, as a union boilermaker from New Castle made a plea for more energy infrastructure in Delaware.

“Our nation is on the brink of an electric energy crisis because of the enormous amount of electricity demands needed to power data centers, AI, Bitcoin mining and cannabis farming,” he said. “What distinguishes Delaware is the fact that our state imports more of its electricity generation, percentage wise, than any other state in the union, and we must change that.” 

Senator Coons responded, referencing the $750 million grant for the Mid Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub, also known as MACH2, that connects Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey as a center of the burgeoning hydrogen economy.

Unfortunately, he said, the grant, approved by the previous administration, may not materialize.

“The current administration is this close to canceling that,” Coons said. “I know this isn’t universally known, but Newark, Delaware happens to be one of the world’s leading centers of hydrogen technology. We have a real opportunity here to grow a business, to produce clean energy, to export it to the rest of the world, and I’m fighting hard, working with Democrats and Republicans to prevent the shutdown of our hydrogen hub.”

Governor Meyer added that the state is working on a plan to make the state both energy independent and run on clean energy.

“Within a decade, we [plan to] go to 100% renewable Delaware produced energy,” Meyer said. “It will not be easy to achieve.” 

A major roadblock, the governor said, is gaining regulatory support for the beleaguered offshore wind projects that have been in the works for years. 

“There is outright opposition to many of these things from the federal government,” Meyer said. “In spite of that, we’re going to do everything with solar, potentially with wind, hopefully with hydrogen, and maybe even with a little nuclear to make sure we are moving forward.”

Watch the full town hall here.

More Moves:

• Merk’s $1 billion complex at Chestnut Run will be the main production plant for cancer drug Keytruda.
  
• Biotech clinical research organization QPS Holdings is making a $16.6 million expansion at Delaware Technology Park in Newark.
  
• Futures First Gaming — and the State of Delaware — hit an esports milestone last month when it hosted the first-ever Delaware Scholastic Esports League Mario Kart High School State Championships at Theatre N.
  
• Cleantech startup KiposTech took the top prize in the 2025 Startup302 Environmental Impact Finals, held during the CleanTech Innovation Ecosystem Summit at the Delaware Innovation Space on April 24.
  
• The Tech Council of Delaware returned to DC for the 2025 Technology Councils of North America Fly-in, and got some face time with Sen. McBride.
  
• TechForum’s AIinDE event returns May 14 at Theatre N in Wilmington with the theme “How Local Businesses Are Leveraging Artificial Intelligence,” featuring four speakers from Delaware’s tech community.
  
• May the 4th be with you! If you’re spending this Star Wars Day weekend in Rehoboth, Taco Reho will have themed specials, including Vader’s Taders topped with “darkside salsa.”