New rules say project must avert reactor retirement
Constellation Energy.
The Biden administration has revised rules to allow hydrogen produced using power from existing nuclear plants to secure tax credits as long as the project averts a nuclear plant’s retirement.
The new rules, announced on 3 January, are a change from draft rules that required developers to produce hydrogen from new clean energy projects such as solar or wind.
“The extensive revisions… provide the certainty that hydrogen producers need to keep their projects moving forward and make the United States a global leader in truly green hydrogen,” said John Podesta, Biden’s senior climate adviser, in a statement.
In a separate statement the US Treasury Department said: “If a nuclear retirement is averted, then the additional demand from hydrogen production will not have induced emissions elsewhere.”
Joe Biden’s administration has relaxed the criteria for clean hydrogen producers to claim tax credits as it bids to help the sector and secure its clean energy legacy ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The Treasury department has delayed stricter requirements for the sector by two years to 2030. From that year, clean hydrogen developers will need to prove that their production is powered by renewables hour by hour instead of annually, in order to qualify for credits.
Background: A Clean Hydgrogen Future?
Clean hydrogen, also known as green hydrogen, is produced by transmitting electricity produced by a nuclear plant – or another low-carbon energy facility such as solar – to electrolysers. It can be used for industry, transport and home heating, at the sites where the hydrogen is needed.
The International Energy Agency has said there are encouraging signs that clean hydrogen technology is on the cusp of significant cost declines and widespread global growth. It said clean hydrogen could play a major role in energy systems and serve all sectors of the economy, replacing fossil fuels and helping mitigate global warming.
A number of projects have begun to produce clean hydrogen from reactors.
In 2023 UK-based Rolls-Royce SMR signed a deal to explore the production of clean hydrogen using its planned small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear plants.
Also in 2023, Biden announced the recipients of $7bn (€6.7bn) in federal grants across 16 states for the development of seven regional hydrogen hubs – two of which aim to generate clean hydrogen from nuclear power stations.
Constellation Energy has been producing clean hydrogen at a 1-MW demonstration facility at the Nine Mile Point nuclear power station in New York state.
