DOE names Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub to top clean energy program

It’s official: The Mid-Atlantic region, including Delaware and surrounding regions, has just been designated a Clean Energy Hub by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2), a coalition of entities in Delaware, Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey, was one of seven networks selected as Clean Energy Hubs— an honor that moves them into award negotiations for up to $750 million in funding from the DOE’s Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) program.

The H2Hubs initiative is investing up to $7 billion to establish these regional clean hydrogen hubs across the U.S. The funding is part of an $8 billion hydrogen hub program funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

MACH2 was ranked among the most pro-labor and greenest hubs in the nation. The other six hubs selected are:

• Appalachian Hydrogen Hub
• California Hydrogen Hub
• Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub
• Heartland Hydrogen Hub
• Midwest Hydrogen Hub
• Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub

In July, Technical.ly spoke with Dora Cheatham, executive director of the Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance and member of the MACH2 board. When the hub was being developed, she said, the Delaware organization decided embracing the region was the only way to go.

“We purposely made the decision that Delaware can’t stand on its own for [the Hydrogen Hub],” Cheatham said. “Because, as we looked at the funding that was coming in and the funding that was being offered, it was the goal of these funds to build regional coalitions and to kind of get people out of their silos.”

University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis agreed in a MACH2 press release announcing the selection.

“Collaboration is the key to success in strengthening our region’s economy and advancing sustainable energy sources for the future,” said said. “The University of Delaware is proud to lead MACH2’s higher education workforce development initiatives in partnership with Cheyney, Rowan and Penn. Working together, we will provide new educational and research opportunities for our students and grow our region’s skilled workforce for the high-paying clean-hydrogen jobs of today and the future.”