Hydrogen has entered the clean energy economy. Why and where it’s happening in Georgia

An entirely new ecosystem of hydrogen production and development is taking shape, mainly because of climate change, and Georgia may be poised to become a hub for it.

Hydrogen, the lightest and most abundant element, can be harnessed through a variety of sources and methods. It can serve as an energy carrier that can be derived from natural gas or even water. And it’s got a chance to generate big business.

“If clean hydrogen is scaled globally, the hydrogen industry has projected the potential for $2.5 trillion in annual revenues and 30 million jobs globally, along with 20 percent global emissions reductions by 2050,” according to the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Road map.

The road map, created by the Department of Energy in June 2023, was made to steer the U.S. to reach a goal of 50 million metric tonnes of clean hydrogen per year by 2050, to help the country reach its net-zero energy goal.

The U.S. currently makes 10 MMT a year of hydrogen, according to Ben Gould, the technology manager of transportation at the DOE.

Most of the 10 MMT of hydrogen exists as an ingredient or byproduct within the natural gas and petrochemical industry.

“Most of it (hydrogen) never beats the fence line, it stays in the refinery sector in the Gulf Coast,” Gould said at the Clean Cities Georgia Hydrogen Summit in Atlanta on Dec. 4.

How companies source hydrogen is key in mitigating carbon and methane emissions to combat climate change. Valerie Thomas, a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology who teaches in the School of Industrial Systems and Engineering and School of Public Policy focuses on carbon emissions and hydrogen. She explained why a traditional method of getting hydrogen from natural gas is “dirty” hydrogen.

“Natural gas hydrogen is considered ‘dirty’ hydrogen because you are still using up natural gas and emitting carbon dioxide,” Thomas said. “The carbon in the natural gas gets released so (natural gas hydrogen) does not have a low carbon footprint. It releases carbon dioxide as part of making it.”

There is a cleaner way of obtaining hydrogen through water, or electrolysis. Electrolysis is the cleanest form; it comes out of water through intense and expensive compression methods. That method can be used from electricity powered by renewables, also considered green or clean hydrogen.

Hydrogen isn’t new, but clean hydrogen for fuel is

Using hydrogen for energy – also called hydrogen fuel – has been undulating in the United States for decades. But in recent months and years, energy industry experts, clean energy companies, and automotive industries have begun harvesting, manufacturing and using all forms of hydrogen across the U.S.

The cost to extract, store and move an element within an energy system not built for it has held back development over the last half century.

What’s driving the change? Clean hydrogen does not pollute carbon emissions, and it’s ubiquitous, unlike natural gas which pollutes and is not renewable. Plus, three years ago, the federal government initiated the Hydrogen Interagency Task Force. As part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, federal officials invested $9.5 billion into hydrogen in tandem with the Hydrogen Energy Earthshot (Hydrogen Shot) project.

In July, seven regional hydrogen hubs were selected to develop hydrogen research and received $7 billion from the DOE. Georgia, and the broader Southeast region, were not selected. But federal funding isn’t deterring hydrogen business in Georgia.

At the summit on Dec. 4, Tim Echols, Georgia Public Service commissioner, called Hyundai fuel cell vehicles “our greatest hope for hydrogen in the near term in Georgia.” Fuel cell vehicles are vehicles powered by hydrogen.

That same day, Hyundai announced the deployment and operation of 21 Class 8 fuel cell trucks that will maneuver logistical equipment around the Hyundai Motorgroup Metaplant outside of Savannah.

Thomas said Hyundai’s initiative builds the hydrogen energy industry.

“I’m pleased that Hyundai did what they said they would do, now they’ve created demand for the (hydrogen) product,” the Georgia Tech professor said.

Hyundai is using gas hydrogen derived from “renewable natural gas,” according to Derek Joyce, senior PR for Hyundai. The company did not disclose further details about how they source their hydrogen.

Hyundai claims they are “vertically integrated and forward thinking, with a long-term hydrogen vision,” Joyce said in an email.

Forklifts and other vehicles that have to move equipment around at large warehouses or plants end up staying close to electric or hydrogen charging stations. Thomas says Forklifts is the niche market hydrogen currently finds itself in.

Who’s gathering hydrogen in Georgia?

In January, Plug Power, a green liquid hydrogen company that gets its hydrogen from renewable energy, built the largest electrolytic hydrogen plant in the U.S. in Woodbine, Georgia. The Camden County plant is near the Florida border. They use large cryogenic trailers to send liquid hydrogen to customers.

The facility, powered by renewables, is producing up to 15 tons per day of liquid hydrogen. Current customers are Amazon, Walmart and Home Depot. In Q1 2025, they plan to have 40 tons of hydrogen production per day from an expansion.

“Plug cryogenic trailers sends enough liquid to fuel 3,216 forklifts a day,” according to Plug’s press release earlier this year.

Plug has collaborated with Amazon to deploy more than 17,000 fuel cells to replace batteries in forklifts in more than 80 fulfillment centers in North America, according to media reports.

“The two technologies (hydrogen and electric vehicles) are complimentary,” Andrew Temple, director of government affairs at Plug, said at the Summit. “Using hydrogen to power EV charging stations itself and pulling charging stations off the grid is what we’re piloting with Amazon right now.”

Plug has pushed forward despite the Southeast not winning hydrogen hub funding.

“The hydrogen hubs were positive, but we’re not going to wait on the federal funding. We need to incentivize future domain use,” Temple said at the Summit.

But in June, Plug received federal funding in the form of a tax credit from the Inflation Reduction Act, giving credits of $3.00/kg of clean hydrogen.

Temple said Plug aims to be within 400 miles of its customers, which was part of the reason the company chose Georgia for its first production facility.

In Ashburn, Virginia, another hydrogen company has been making 1 ton of hydrogen for a year. Independence Hydrogen has decided to open its second plant in Valdosta, capable of producing 7 to 9 tons of hydrogen per day.

Dat Tran, CEO of Independence Hydrogen, told the Ledger-Enquirer that Georgia has a large industrial and transportation base and a good political landscape for hydrogen.

“Forklifts, trucking, ports, maritime, trains, all these applications are ripe for switching to fuel cells,” Tran said. “Georgia has a large concentration of all of this activity and Governor Brian Kemp and Senator Jon Ossoff have been supportive of growing in Georgia too.”

In 2023, Kemp instructed the Georgia Department of Transportation to work with the private sector to deploy hydrogen fueling stations. And in May of this year, Ossoff, with bipartisan support from Republican Rep. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, passed the Hydrogen Aviation Strategy Act to require the Federal Aviation Administration to research the new technology.

Independence Hydrogen is all about speed to market, in creating small size plants that produce 7-9 tons of hydrogen and get them to the market quickly by constructing them in under 18 months.

Independence Hydrogen derives their hydrogen from household chemicals that people use every day.

“We collect it from a chemical process,” Tran said. “We partner with a manufacture company that manufactures bleach, chlorine, sodium carbonate. But the byproduct of the process is hydrogen. They just vent it to the atmosphere. Hey, we’ll take the stuff you throw away and clean it up and then pressurize it and find customers to deliver it to.”

Like Plug, Independence Hydrogen has forklifts on the mind.

“We could power one distribution facility which has 150 forklifts that operate 16 hours per day with our 1 ton facility,” Tran said.

“In 24 months we’ll have hydrogen available in Valdosta capable of delivery along the southeast corridor, to Hyundai even, they are just 80 miles from Valdosta.”

Tran said the hydrogen at the future Valdosta facility could supply 150 class 8 trailers, like the 21 that Hyundai just announced, for continuous use.

Tran anticipates 75 jobs created during construction, likely 20 jobs during the first phase, and 30 jobs in the second phase. They’ll need plant engineers, mechanics, operators and administrators.

In Atlanta, the transportation agency MARTA will soon pilot a hydrogen bus fleet, according to Jannine Miller, director of GDOT.

“There are lots of benefits for electric and hydrogen at the same time,” Miller said at December’s Summit. “Hydrogen is vitally important. I’m most excited for hydrogen to help make an energy independent transit system.”