Hydrogen Day 2021

Mike Graff, Chairman & CEO, American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc. and Executive Vice President, Air Liquide Group, issued the following statement on National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day:

"On this 7th National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, the world is at a pivotal moment to achieve the ambitious goals set by the United States and other countries to combat climate change.  To secure the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, it will take the concerted efforts of both governments and industry to re-consider every aspect of our energy landscape, from infrastructure to fuel sources to the dynamics of our global markets.

Accomplishing these goals will depend on transitioning to a clean energy economy.  Hydrogen alone will not drive this clean energy transition, but the energy transition will not happen without hydrogen.

Because of hydrogen’s versatility as both a fuel source and energy storage medium, it has the potential to support decarbonization efforts across economic sectors.  Hydrogen also represents a significant economic opportunity for the energy industry to continue evolving and thriving.  By 2030, it is estimated that the United States’ hydrogen market could generate an estimated $140 billion in revenue per year and support 700,000 jobs.

By increasing both public and private investment in the hydrogen economy, the U.S. will benefit from this game-changing technology for the transportation, power and industrial sectors, all while assuring continued energy system reliability, affordability and security.

The United States has been a historic leader in developing hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Continued world leadership requires a comprehensive federal policy framework and we are seeing the first strong signs of this developing. The private sector can lead, but federal government policies will play an important role in hydrogen’s market growth and penetration, including passage of a hydrogen production tax credit and policies that support the most meaningful opportunities for hydrogen, including heavy-duty vehicles, energy storage, and industrial applications.   

Earlier this year, Air Liquide was honored to host U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm when she visited Air Liquide’s hydrogen production facility in Texas, her first out-of-state travel as Secretary of Energy. Not long after her visit, the Department of Energy’s Energy Earth Shots Initiative was launched, with the Hydrogen Shot, a program to facilitate the deployment and reduce the cost of clean hydrogen, as the first priority.

Air Liquide is proud to be a world leader in the development of hydrogen infrastructure and technologies, here in the U.S. and abroad.  To date, Air Liquide has invested close to $1 billion USD in hydrogen energy in the U.S. We will continue to lead the industry as we plan to invest nearly $10 billion USD in low-carbon hydrogen by 2035 in order to more than triple sales of hydrogen and help substantially curb emissions. 

We are firmly committed to hydrogen energy as the catalyst for meeting our objectives of decreasing our own global carbon emissions in absolute value by 33 percent by 2035, and even more importantly, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.  A few examples of this commitment include:

• In Nevada, Air Liquide is supporting the clean mobility market with a $200 million investment in the construction of a liquid hydrogen production plant and distribution infrastructure on the West Coast, which will be completed by the end of this year.  At full capacity, this hydrogen plant will provide enough hydrogen to keep more than 40,000 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles on the road, significantly improving the hydrogen supply to this critical market.
• On the East Coast, Air Liquide’s flagship Innovation Campus Delaware brings to bear our industrial expertise to support the decarbonization of industries, design hydrogen safety and filling protocols for the mobility market, and develop technologies for power utilization and optimization as well as more efficient fabrication technologies that contribute to the growth of the hydrogen economy.
• In Becancour, Quebec, we are demonstrating the viability of at-scale production of renewable hydrogen with the world’s largest Proton Exchange Membrane electrolyzer in operation today. This site produces over eight metric tons per day of renewable-carbon hydrogen and with the electrolyzer technology, the emissions of nearly 27,000 tons of CO2 per year will be avoided. So far, over 1,000 tons of renewable hydrogen - equivalent to more than 2,000 cars driven for one year - have already been produced seamlessly to supply both mobility and industrial markets.

Today is a day to celebrate the promise of hydrogen and the progress that the United States has made in advancing it as an important part of our clean energy future.  Air Liquide is committed to partnering with policy makers, customers and industry to develop and deploy this game-changing solution to a clean energy future."