Congress created the PTC to spur investments in clean hydrogen, and poorly devised PTC rules could hamper this vital industry and broader US policy goals. The signatories argue that without domestic clean hydrogen, the US will not meet its climate and economic goals and that unworkable and inequitable PTC requirements could shift clean hydrogen investments overseas and allow other countries to undercut US clean hydrogen manufacturing.
Congress’ intent of enacting the PTC and Inflation Reduction Act was to rapidly scale clean hydrogen production in the United States and accelerate the Biden Administration’s greenhouse gas pollution reduction targets.
In addition, Plug has developed a technical and policy impact analysis, “The Road to Clean Hydrogen: Getting the Rules Right,” about PTC implementation.
If overly strict restrictions are placed upon tax credit qualifying rules, the analysis projects a significant negative impact on the development of the green hydrogen industry, including domestic investment reductions of 65 percent by 2032, the loss of over 500,000 jobs over the next seven years, and energy security risks from the failure to develop hydrogen manufacturing and infrastructure.
“The fact is clean domestic hydrogen is essential to meeting America’s climate and economic goals” said Plug CEO Andy Marsh. “If PTC rules are too restrictive, we risk forgoing hundreds of thousands of jobs, conceding hydrogen leadership overseas, compromising our energy security, and failing to achieve decarbonisation goals – especially in hard-to-abate sectors like steel and chemical production.”
Well-established organisations and companies with decades of experience in clean energy implementation signed the letter encouraging the Administration to advance pragmatic, forward-looking guidance for the Section 45V Clean Hydrogen PTC.
“The section 45V hydrogen PTC holds enormous potential to help the Administration meet its ambitious climate targets, but we must get the details right” added Marty Durbin, President, Global Energy Institute, US Chamber of Commerce. “Plug’s technical analysis demonstrates that stringent restrictions on 45V PTC eligibility could cripple investment in the hydrogen economy and deprive hard-to-abate sectors of adequate and affordable hydrogen supplies. If the Administration pursues a flexible and balanced approach to the implementation of this tax credit, we are confident US businesses will respond with historic levels of investment in hydrogen projects that will power our clean energy future.”
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