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The DOE Hydrogen Program Plan

Nov 2, 2020

Emphasizing hydrogen's role as a versatile fuel, the Plan focuses on collaboration across sectors, including transportation, industry, and power generation. It represents the DOE's commitment to a coordinated approach to harnessing hydrogen's potential for economic growth and sustainability.

The Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Program Plan 2020 outlines the strategic focus areas of the DOE's Hydrogen Program. Here's a summary of the key aspects:

  1. Introduction and Preface (Pages 1-3):

    • The Plan provides a coordinated high-level summary of hydrogen-related activities across DOE, updating previous versions and reflecting the focus on research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities.

  2. To Our Stakeholders (Page ii):

    • The Plan emphasizes hydrogen as a versatile fuel that can support economic growth, manufacturing, transportation, electricity, and heat production. It highlights the need for continued research, development, and collaboration across energy sectors.

  3. DOE Hydrogen Program (Pages 8-14):

    • The Program's mission is to enable large-scale use of hydrogen across applications and sectors.

    • "Hydrogen at Scale" serves as a guiding framework, focusing on integration of fossil, nuclear, and renewable energy systems.

  4. Technology Focus Areas & RD&D Thrusts (Pages 15-32):

    • Hydrogen Production: Includes fossil resources, biomass, waste-stream resources, and water-splitting technologies.

    • Hydrogen Delivery: Covers tube trailers, pipelines, liquid hydrogen, chemical hydrogen carriers, and dispensing and fueling.

    • Hydrogen Storage: Discusses physical-based storage and material-based storage.

    • Conversion: Includes combustion and fuel cells.

    • Applications: Focuses on transportation, chemical and industrial processes, stationary and power generation applications, integrated hybrid energy systems, and crosscutting challenges and opportunities.

  5. Program Execution & Collaboration (Pages 35-42):

    • Details program execution, stakeholder input, funding, measures to ensure effectiveness, internal and external coordination, federal and state coordination, private sector partnerships, and international collaboration.

  6. Appendices (Pages 45-51):

    • Includes information on domestic energy resources required to produce hydrogen, a glossary of acronyms, contacts & links, and acknowledgments.

  7. Strategic Vision:

    • The Plan represents DOE's commitment to developing technologies that enable a hydrogen transition in the United States. It emphasizes collaboration within DOE and with stakeholders in industry, academia, and states.

  8. Historical Context:

    • The Plan builds on previous efforts, including the Hydrogen Posture Plan, the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Plan, the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, and the National Hydrogen Energy Technology Roadmap.


Overall, the DOE Hydrogen Program Plan 2020 serves as a comprehensive roadmap for the coordinated efforts to advance hydrogen technologies across various sectors of the economy. It emphasizes the importance of hydrogen as a sustainable fuel and outlines the strategic focus areas, technological thrusts, and collaborative efforts needed to realize the full potential and benefits of hydrogen.


Read more here: https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/hydrogen-program-plan-2020.pdf

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