ST. PAUL – Minnesota has joined North Dakota, Montana and Wisconsin in developing a regional clean hydrogen hub to help meet the nation’s clean energy, transportation, and agricultural needs, Gov. Tim Walz announced this week.

“Minnesota is working to expand our clean energy economy and meet the changing needs of industries across our state with innovative solutions,” Walz said. “I look forward to working with these states to secure a critical investment in clean energy and create a world-class hydrogen hub.”

Under a memorandum of understanding, the four states agree to develop a proposal for a Heartland Hydrogen Hub, with the goal of obtaining federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s $7 billion program announced last week to create regional clean hydrogen (H2Hubs) across the country. The funding is part of a larger hydrogen hub program included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Benefits of developing clean hydrogen include:

•Expanding the clean energy economy in Minnesota and participating states

•Reducing long-term costs for consumers and businesses

•Creating good-paying jobs

•Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

•Promoting rural and urban economic development

The Heartland Hydrogen Hub will incorporate clean hydrogen projects from various energy sources across the participating states. North Dakota, through the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, will lead the effort to develop the application in collaboration with industry partners and state coordinators from all four states. The states also have agreed to identify opportunities to collaborate with tribal nations.

The EERC is home to the National Center for Hydrogen Technology and has a long history of developing, testing, and integrating technologies for the production and uses of hydrogen.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce will be the lead agency for Minnesota for both the Heartland Hydrogen Hub MOU, and the Midwestern Hydrogen Coalition MOU, which was announced on Sept. 19. Both MOUs aim toward intrastate collaboration aimed at developing the clean hydrogen industry.

The Department of Energy said it aims to select six to 10 hubs, with concept papers due by Nov. 7 and applications due by April 7, 2023. Additional funding opportunities may follow to accelerate and expand the network of clean hydrogen projects, the department said.