A. The Department of Energy (DOE) received 79 Concept Papers. 

A. Concept Papers allow DOE to provide feedback to potential applicants to ensure they can produce the best applications possible and to better understand and prepare for the types of Full Applications DOE might receive. The encourage or discourage notifications also serve to caution applicants from expending considerable resources to develop a Full Application on a concept that is unlikely to meet the goals of the hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) program.  

A. Multiple reviewers independently scored each Concept Paper based on evaluation criteria listed in the Funding Opportunity Announcement that included qualifications, experience, and capabilities; expected contributions toward a national hydrogen network; plans to develop production, end-use, and connective facilities; and the community benefits plan component. A DOE panel then reviewed scores and made final decisions on which papers to encourage and discourage, resulting in 33 encouraged and 46 discouraged.  

The encouraged Concept Papers plan to develop all elements critical to a H2Hub: comprising production, end-uses, and connective infrastructure; demonstrating capabilities to execute a project plan or to attract and hire such capabilities; planning to deploy proven technologies; and indicating commitments to clean hydrogen and meaningful community benefits.  

The 46 Concept Papers were discouraged for many reasons, but one of the most common reasons was papers that described concepts focused on only one element of the hub. Concept Papers were also discouraged that would depend on technologies unready for commercial scale demonstrations and projects whose elements were not readily suited to help catalyze a national clean hydrogen network. 

A. DOE takes seriously the confidentiality of all applicants and will treat applications and related information as confidential to the fullest extent possible, provided that applicants have not opted to publicly release the information. However, applicants who submitted Concept Papers are free to publicize their H2Hub Concept Papers and/or DOE’s response. To receive future news alerts from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), including any updates on the H2Hubs Funding Opportunity Announcement, such as project selections, sign up here. 

A. Yes, applicants may share their Concept Papers and DOE’s response.  

A. Yes, an encourage/discourage notification does not preclude any entity that submitted a Concept Paper from submitting a Full Application, nor does it preclude further coordination among potential applicants.  

A. No, an encourage notification simply means that the proposal is on the right path towards submitting a Full Application. DOE expects significant competition amongst applicants, even if only encouraged applicants proceed.

A. No, a discourage notification means that DOE deemed that the applicant’s prospect for success may not justify the resources required to complete a thorough and responsive Full Application. 

A. Yes, DOE held a webinar for interested parties and those who submitted Concept Papers to provide common themes and points of information to inform Full Applications. The webinar occurred on January 12, 2023; details on the webinar are available on this webpage.  

A. DOE received Concept Papers from all regions of the country. Encouraged Concept Papers propose H2Hubs in most regions of the country.  

A. Parties of multiple Concept Papers may later merge into one Full Application. If a party is part of multiple Full Applications, the applications should explain how the entity or facility will support each H2Hub. 

A. Yes, however, the statute requires that “to the maximum extent practicable, each regional clean hydrogen hub…shall be located in a different region of the United States.” Applicants are encouraged to communicate and coordinate with each other, and even partner where appropriate, particularly where multiple H2Hubs have been proposed in the same region.  

A. Yes, end uses, such as transportation, residential and commercial heating, electric power generation, and industrial uses, are eligible for funding as part of a H2Hub. Please refer to the Funding Opportunity Announcement for specific exclusions.  

A. Applicants proposed investments, in aggregate, of more than $150 billion of their own capital alongside the DOE’s federal investment. 

Applicant Cost Share Proposed (approximately $157.1 billion) 
Encouraged: $96 billion 
Discouraged: $61.1 billion 

A. The request for federal funds was approximately $60 billion—roughly eight to nine times the size of DOE’s $6-7 billion solicitation—including approximately $33.5 billion from the 33 applicants who have been encouraged to submit Full Applications.  

DOE Cost Share Requested (approximately $61.3 billion) 
Encouraged: $33.5 billion 
Discouraged: $27.8 billion 

A. The success of an H2Hub depends on engagement with and support from host communities, relevant labor partners and workforces, and other impacted groups. Applicants are required to include a Community Benefits Plan describing the steps applicants will take to engage with community and labor groups; invest in America’s workforce; advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility; and support the Justice40 Initiative; as well as the resources that are allocated to implementing the Community Benefits Plan. Additional information is available through our “Community Benefits Plan Guidance” under “APPLICATION FORMS AND TEMPLATES” in eXCHANGE. DOE will support successful applicants and host communities in ongoing community engagement as reflected in the Community Benefits Plans throughout the full project scope. 

A. H2Hubs will be evaluated on the degree to which the proposed H2Hub reduces emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants across the full life cycle compared to current and conventional technologies and processes. H2Hubs also must demonstrably aid achievement of, but do not necessarily need to meet, the clean hydrogen production standard, which has its own statutory criteria and is currently under development. The clean hydrogen production standard target is not a regulatory requirement or barrier to H2Hubs funding. 

A. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law defines the term “regional clean hydrogen hub” as “a network of clean hydrogen producers, potential clean hydrogen consumers, and connective infrastructure located in close proximity.” 

A. Yes, H2Hubs are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to current and conventional technologies and processes. DOE is requiring H2Hubs to conduct a detailed Life Cycle Analysis to determine the carbon intensity of all project elements over the lifetime of the H2Hub—including, for example, emissions intensities of supply chains and input materials. However, emissions associated with equipment manufacturing are not included in the system boundary. 

We also know that different methods of hydrogen production and use can impact the extent of non-greenhouse gas emissions including NOx. DOE expects H2Hubs to employ state-of-the-art technologies to mitigate criteria air pollution emissions, and criteria air pollution emissions will also factor into the Life Cycle Analysis of the H2Hub.  

A. Yes, all other factors being equal, and this is reflected in the evaluation criteria: the speed at which the H2Hub can achieve its proposed production rate and build out the related infrastructure to expand end use markets for clean hydrogen. 

A. Yes, all other factors being equal. It is included as one of 16 program policy factors that may help determine which Full Application to select: the degree to which the proposed project, including proposed cost share, optimizes the use of available DOE funding to achieve programmatic objectives. 

A. Full Applications are due by April 7, 2023, 5 p.m., ET. 

A. Additional information is available on OCED Exchange. In particular, applicants can review the Funding Opportunity Announcement Q&A log under the H2Hubs section of the page.