Hydrogen hubs are set to begin popping up around the United States, and that means jobs, investments and opportunities.
The tech hubs inspired by Silicon Valley may have sparked new inspiration in the clean energy space as multiple developers and various entities are now looking to establish hydrogen hubs across the United States.
Last year, the Biden-Harris administration gave the green light to 7 projects aiming to develop clean energy, hydrogen hubs in different regions. After a competitive request-for-proposals process, these 7 winners were selected to receive $7 billion in funding that will help them see the development through to fruition.
Now, they’re not the only ones working on developing hydrogen hubs. According to McKinsey & Company, “about half of US states are leading or participating in the development of hydrogen hubs, which involves bringing together essential industry, community and regional partners to create detailed, multisector project plans across production, transportation and end uses.”
This is a great start to the year for net-zero efforts, and a positive sign for anyone seeking opportunities in the green economy — whether you’re a jobseeker, investor or other stakeholder.
What’s a Hydrogen Hub?
A hydrogen hub is a network of infrastructure that will help produce, store and distribute clean energy in the form of hydrogen.
Hubs like these will be instrumental in the United States’ efforts to achieve net-zero emissions as quickly, efficiently and ethically as possible. And they’ll need to involve coordination between multiple industries and stakeholders.
Where a tech hub is more like a cluster of individual technology companies in one centralized area, the concept of a hydrogen hub is more like a multitude of individual components coming together to function for a unified goal.
Can Hydrogen Hubs Help Create More Green Jobs?
Hydrogen hubs are expected to create thousands more green jobs in the USA.
This is on top of thousands of green jobs that are already being created thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed last fall.
In fact, according to data from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the 7 green hubs that were selected as part of the regional hydrogen hub project are expected to create more than 333,000 direct, high-paying jobs alone.
That doesn’t even account for the indirect jobs and employment opportunities that will follow, or the expected economic upturn states that house a hydrogen hub will likely see.
The fact that even more hydrogen hubs than these 7 could very well pop up as the push for net-zero continues means there’s even more in store for the future of the green economy in the US. And it means global competition to become the world’s first clean energy superpower is certainly ramping up!