The United States DoE, as well as the Alliance for Renewable Clean Energy Systems – ARCHES, have gone on to sign a landmark $12.6 billion agreement, which includes almost $1.2 billion coming from the DoE as well as $11.4 billion in private as well as public matching funds so as to build and also expand clean energy infrastructure throughout the state of California.
This funding, which will in a way directly decrease the dependence of California on fossil fuels, goes on to mark a better step forward as far as the state’s efforts to attain a carbon-neutral economy is concerned by 2045, and it also follows the state’s selection in October 2023 as one of the seven awardees when it comes to Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs- H2Hubs. ARCHES happens to be the first out of the seven H2Hubs so as to officially ink their agreement with the DoE.
As per Senator Alex Padilla, he was indeed proud to help in securing $1.2 billion in federal investments by way of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law so as to build a hydrogen hub in California. He added that the path to attaining the ambitious clean energy goals for California goes via ARCHES, and he is indeed excited to see the hub kickoff with the initial funding round. California happens to be a leading state in the nation and the very first to ink a cooperative agreement, and they shall continue by way of decarbonizing the movement of the goods, the heavy industry, and also the energy sector.
The entire amount of investment, starting with $30 million in the first tranche of funding out of the total of $1.2 billion, is expected to create a whopping 220,000 jobs that would be well-paying.
It is expected that ARCHES DoE projects will go on to result in decreased healthcare costs amounting to $2.95 billion every year because of enhanced air quality, especially in the transport corridors.
According to the CEO of ARCHES, Angelina Galiteva, the announcement by the DoE to go ahead and fund the ARCHES happens to be a massive step forward when it comes to the state’s efforts to attain the air quality, energy, and climate goals while at the same time also improving all the Californians’ health and well-being and also coming up with new jobs all throughout the state.
Spearheaded by Gavin Newsom, the state’s climate policies, such as the California Climate Crisis Act, the Executive Order on Zero-Emission Vehicles, and the 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality, as well as the upcoming hydrogen market development strategy by the government, all shall work in sync so as to send out strong signals pertaining to the critical role that regional clean hydrogen hubs would play when it comes to decarbonizing the economy of the state. It is well to be noted that each of the selected projects by the ARCHES will go on to play a very crucial role when it comes to improving the quality of air and also public health throughput many of the underserved communities across the state of California.
As put by Bo Mazzetti, the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and also an ARCHES member of the board, California tribes happen to be very excited to work with the likes of the ARCHES in terms of the hub project, which is in turn going to speed up the future of the state in renewable energy and also the development of the Hydrogen Trail initiative so as to get the renewable energy stations as well as the clean hydrogen to reservations and also rural communities that are federally recognized. The ARCHES project will be spread across the state thereby covering the entire hydrogen lifecycle from production to also usage, which includes but not limited to –
The renewable hydrogen production, where over 10 sites shall come up with enough clean renewable hydrogen so as to fuel the projects that are below and also commence the buildout of the greater hydrogen spectrum.
Ports across Long Beach, Oakland, and Los Angeles will go ahead and replace the diesel-enabled power cargo handling equipment with hydrogen fuel cell equivalents and also associated fueling infrastructure, thereby decreasing the emissions as well as community health impacts while at the same time reimagining transport operations on a large scale.
It is worth noting that ARCHES looks to build more than 60 hydrogen fuel stations so as to help more than 5000 class-6-8 fuel cell electric trucks and also over 1000 fuel cell electric buses, which replacing diesel fuel with zero-emission alternative in the city streets and also on the freeways throughout the state, making air across California healthier.
Both, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as well as the Northern California Power Agency will make a shift to major power plants to 100% renewable hydrogen. There will be distributed fuel cells that will be used so as to support the grid operations all across the state.
A first-of-its-kind, powered by hydrogen, marine research vessel shall make use of liquid hydrogen so as to replace massive gallons of diesel fuel every year. The vessel will go on to convert 75% of its emissions to be fossil-free, therefore prominently decreasing the level of CO2 emissions and also putting forward a sustainable path for much smaller water as well as harbor crafts.