Columbus-based Cummins Inc., a partner in the state’s bid for an H2Hub, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the last three years alone in its development of hydrogen-fuel technology.
David Roberts, chief innovation officer at the Indiana Economic Development Corp., is spending a lot of time right now focused on hydrogen.
That’s because the IEDC, along with numerous public and private partners including Columbus-based Cummins Inc., is hoping to land big federal funding to establish northwestern Indiana as one of a handful of hydrogen hubs planned around the country.
“I’ve been on four hydrogen calls yesterday, I’ve got a few hydrogen calls today,” Roberts told IBJ on Oct. 21. “It’s getting really dynamic here.”
The Indiana coalition — which in addition to Cummins includes Indianapolis-based Energy Systems Network, Purdue University, London-based BP plc and others — is vying for a portion of the up to $7 billion the U.S. Department of Energy is making available in its Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, or H2Hubs, program.
The funding comes from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed late last year. The application deadline for concept papers is Nov. 7, and the Department of Energy will respond by the end of the year to applicants and either encourage or discourage them from proceeding. Deadline for submitting full applications is April 7. The H2Hubs program requires that grant recipients provide a local match of at least $1 for every grant dollar received.
The Department of Energy has said it expects to select six to 10 hydrogen hub projects, with winners notified next fall.
Cummins said it’s involved with the Indiana effort — and several other hydrogen hub proposals around the country — because it makes good business sense.
“We want to promote the adoption of hydrogen across the United States,” said Neil Banwart, a program director at Cummins. Banwart works in the company’s New Power segment, which includes hydrogen.
Cummins, which built its name on diesel engines, began ramping up its investments in hydrogen several years ago, investing hundreds of millions in the technology since 2019. Hydrogen currently represents a tiny part of the company’s business, but its lineup includes products like hydrogen fuel cells that can power vehicles, and the electrolyzers that produce hydrogen.
Cummins also has a 50/50 joint venture with NPROXX, a Netherlands-based company that makes high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks.
The hydrogen industry is at such an early stage, Banwart said, that there are few fuel-cell trucks on the road, and those that do exist are part of pilot programs. As a result, a fuel-cell truck can cost two to three times what a diesel truck costs, and the per-mile fuel costs for hydrogen are also multiple times higher than for diesel.
Those costs will inevitably come down as hydrogen gains traction, Banwart said, but “right now we do need federal money to make this all work.”
The hubs can play a key role in accelerating that adoption, he said. “As Cummins, we cannot do this alone.”
According to the DOE website, proposed projects should focus on clean hydrogen, which refers to how the hydrogen is produced. Among other methods, this can include hydrogen produced using renewable energy sources such as nuclear or biomass. It can also include hydrogen produced with fossil fuels if the resulting carbon emissions are captured and sequestered.
The hubs should demonstrate the production, processing, delivery, storage and end-use of clean hydrogen, the Energy Department said.
Among other deciding factors, the department said it intends to select projects that represent different regions of the country, different hydrogen production methods and different end uses for the hydrogen, including electric power generation, industrial uses, residential and commercial heating, and transportation.
Because the hydrogen industry itself is in its infancy, certain other details about the H2Hubs program, including what the Indiana hydrogen hub might involve, are not yet set.
But those involved in Indiana’s H2Hubs efforts say northwestern Indiana would be an ideal place for a hub that would help kickstart the state’s hydrogen industry.
Indiana’s geology, particularly in northwestern Indiana, includes natural caverns that could be used to store captured carbon dioxide underground as a way to reduce carbon emissions, said Energy Systems Network CEO Paul Mitchell.
Northwestern Indiana also has a concentration of heavy industry, such as the BP refinery at Whiting and steel mills operated by U.S. Steel in Gary and Cleveland-Cliffs in Burns Harbor and East Chicago.
Likewise, that part of the state sees a lot of transportation activity from the trucking industry, the Port of Indiana at Burns Harbor, and nearby Chicago and other cities.
Heavy industry and transportation are strong potential customers for hydrogen sales as companies look to shift away from fossil fuels and reduce their carbon emissions, Mitchell said.
“We saw that [storage capacity and density of potential hydrogen users] as really being a compelling collection of assets that could compete with anyplace else in the country,” he said.
That’s why it makes sense to focus early efforts on that part of the state, the IEDC’s Roberts said. Once hydrogen activity catches on there, he said, it should accelerate hydrogen-related efforts statewide.
Getting funding for a hydrogen hub could help Indiana become a leader in an emerging industry, he said. “That’s really what’s helping motivate our interest here.”
