North Carolina's Republican U.S. Senators have joined a bipartisan group that supports building a hub for hydrogen energy in the southeast.
Hydrogen has the potential to be a limitless source of clean energy. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $8 billion to create 10 hydrogen hubs around the country.
鈥淭he production, processing, delivery, storage and end-use of clean hydrogen, including innovative uses in the industrial sector, are crucial to DOE鈥檚 strategy for achieving President Biden鈥檚 goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,鈥� the U.S. Department of Energy says.
Southeastern utilities 鈥� including Duke Energy, Southern Company, and Dominion Energy 鈥� have to attract one of the hubs to the southeast.
North Carolina's Republican U.S. senators 鈥� Thom Tillis and Ted Budd 鈥� support that effort. They joined their Democratic colleagues from Georgia, and GOP senators from South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee in to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
The senators say the hub 鈥減resents a unique opportunity to grow the Southeast鈥檚 economy, strengthen U.S. energy independence, lower costs for households and businesses, and continue to develop the region as a clean energy leader.鈥�
The Department of Energy will soon select sites for the hubs.
"We now are going over those more detailed applications,鈥� Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk told a Senate committee in February. 鈥淎pril 7 is when those are due... We're going to get the funding out by the end of this year."
