The New Jersey Fuel Cell Task Force issued a report Wednesday that says the state is ideally positioned to serve as the Northeast’s hub for the development of fuel cell systems to power homes and businesses with clean electricity and help meet clean energy goals.
The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Towards Clean Energy Goals report outlines strategies to increase fuel cell production and use in New Jersey, including state tax credits for investments or production of low-carbon hydrogen. The 92-page report, produced with the support of the state Board of Public Utilities in conjunction with Montclair State University’s Clean Energy and Sustainability Analytics Center, also serves as a primer to educate policymakers and the public about fuel cell technology and resources.
Fuel cells use the chemical energy of hydrogen or other fuels to produce electricity to power homes, businesses and vehicles. Unlike combustion engines, hydrogen fuel cell systems emit no greenhouse gases or air pollutants. A fuel cell vehicle (FCV) works can be charged in under 5 minutes, instead of the hours it takes to recharge a battery electric vehicle.
The report notes the federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act provides $9.5 billion for clean hydrogen programs, including $8 billion to support development of regional hydrogen hubs in the United States. New Jersey is uniquely positioned to serve as a hub because it has the highest concentration of engineers and scientists in the nation, an established manufacturing base and numerous industrial and chemical plants that could be used to generate hydrogen.
Additionally, New Jersey is already a logistics and transportation hub, with more than 2,800 miles of interstate highways, state highways, and the highest railroad density in the nation, the report said. The Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest port on the East Coast, is the gateway to one of the most concentrated consumer markets in the United States. New Jersey also holds five foreign trade zones that offer “unsurpassed market access,” the report notes.
Importantly, New Jersey is now building the country’s first port dedicated to assembling offshore wind turbines that will be installed across the Eastern Seaboard. As New Jersey relies more in the future on intermittent power sources, such as solar and wind, there will be a greater need for dispatchable energy from hydrogen fuel cells systems, the report said.
“New Jersey is all in on being a national leader in the clean energy transition,” Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso said Wednesday. “The Fuel Cell Task Force Report and the expertise of the Task Force, which the NJBPU is proud to chair, will help guide the actions the State is exploring to meet energy demands of tomorrow and help New Jersey serve as a hub for the production of clean energy technologies for the entire Northeast.”
NJBIA Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer Ray Cantor said greater emphasis must be placed on costs and affordability of hydrogen fuel technology. Producing hydrogen requires an energy source to break its molecular bond with another element, such as H2O. In the energy business, hydrogen is referred to by colors as a kind of shorthand for how it was created.
For example, green hydrogen, which is created using wind and solar power, is three times more expensive to produce than blue hydrogen, which is created using natural gas power, Cantor pointed out.
“We must be cognizant of the costs of decarbonization strategies and the burden they will place on the backs of New Jersey ratepayers,” Cantor said.
The complete task force report and recommendations can be viewed here.
