Nine of the 33 projects on the department of energy shortlist for the hydrogen hubs are in water-stressed regions, according to Rystad data. Producing hydrogen requires enormous amounts of fresh water in a world affected by climate-driven drought. Reuters interviewed six researchers who study hydrogen as green power and had exclusive access to an analysis by Rystad Energy consultancy that showed that the Biden administration’s vision of low-carbon hydrogen may run into a challenge that is itself worsened by climate change: water scarcity. “It makes no sense to create a purported clean energy source that in turn destroys an entire ecosystem, threatens other economies reliant upon a healthy bay system, and usurps the water supply for residents,” the Coastal Alliance to Protect the Environment, a Corpus Christi activist group, wrote in a letter to US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm. While local officials say they can provide that water by constructing a seawater desalination plant, environmental groups and some local residents and legislators are lining up to oppose desalination sites. The Gulf Coast port is in the running for up to $1bn available under President Joe Biden's 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to create a regional hub to produce hydrogen, a low-emissions fuel made by electrolysing water that can help decarbonise heavy-emitting industries and transportation.Ī hydrogen hub would require access to millions of litres of water - a challenge in Corpus Christi, which is experiencing a multiyear drought. The Biden administration’s climate agenda is facing an unexpected challenge in drought-prone Corpus Christi, Texas, where a proposed clean hydrogen hub would require the installation of energy-intensive, expensive and potentially environmentally damaging seawater desalination plants.
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