US Treasury moves to restrict hydrogen tax breaks offered by IRA

[NickB79]

https://www.ft.com/content/681c8f56-0d59-4c78-80a7-402521bf83e9

The US has unveiled stringent new criteria hydrogen producers must meet to claim green subsidies under Joe Biden’s climate legislation, in a move that has disappointed developers who warn burdensome rules will stymie the nascent industry.

Guidance from the US Treasury issued on Friday would limit the $3-per-kilogramme credit to hydrogen that is made only from new clean energy projects, such as solar and wind, that are connected to the same regional grid as the hydrogen producer.

The guidance would also impose a strict interpretation of how developers prove their green hydrogen is clean. From 2028, developers will need to certify that the production is powered by renewables every hour — not annually.

Hydrogen producers were trying to get certification annually, because that would allow them to run electrolysizers 24/7 even if they're using power provided by coal or natural gas instead of wind and solar, buy carbon tax credits to offset their emissions, call it green hydrogen, and claim lucrative tax credits. By setting it to an hourly basis, they can't do this.

The dirty secret is that carbon tax credits are mostly a joke that don't actually cut carbon emissions.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/19/do-carbon-credit-reduce-emissions-greenhouse-gases

[Brenda]

1. It's almost like they don't want anything to change.

Pushing expensive electric cars without the infrastructure in place instead of pushing transitional hybrids.
Demanding new non-FF industries to jump impossibly high hurdles without a phase-in.
Continuing to drill, frack and subsidize FF companies.
And of course the CC scams.