The US Department of Energy (DOE) will grant $750m to projects across 24 states that are building the capacity to produce and use clean hydrogen. President Joe Biden’s administration sees hydrogen as crucial to reducing the use of fossil fuels and cutting emissions from hard-to-decarbonise industries such as aluminium and cement.

Green hydrogen is made by electrolysers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen, powered by zero-emissions sources such as solar, wind, nuclear or hydropower. Additional demand could help drive down the price of electrolysers by incentivising investment.

Currently, most hydrogen is produced by electrolysers powered by fossil fuels in a process that costs a fraction of producing clean hydrogen.

The 52 projects that will receive the funding, backed by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, span states from Oregon to Rhode Island. The projects focus on six aspects of the hydrogen industry, including research and development on the production of electrolysers, recycling critical materials used in hydrogen production, such as iridium, and securing supply chains for machines.

Sunita Satyapal, head of the DOE’s hydrogen and fuel cell technologies office, told Reuters that the range of projects receiving grants proves a “really holistic approach”. She added that the grants will help the US meet its National Clean Hydrogen Strategy goals, including the production of ten million tonnes of clean hydrogen by 2030.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said: “The projects announced today – funded by the President’s Investing in America agenda – will supercharge our progress and ensure our leadership in clean hydrogen will be felt across the nation for generations to come.”

The grants will act as a foundation for the administration’s $7bn hydrogen hub programme. In October, Biden announced the winners of the hydrogen hub construction proposals. At the time of the announcement, he said: “I am here to announce one of the largest manufacturing investments in the history of this nation.”