One of the most important things in life is energy. There’s a huge race to find realistic alternate sources of energy to reduce dependency on things like oil and coal. One that doesn’t get much love is hydrogen power, or converting water into clean energy. An exciting new deal was just struck to move that power forward right here at home, so let’s take a look!
Here are Five Fast Facts on Michigan’s new deal on hydrogen:
- 💧 The Setup - Last year, the Dept of Energy announced the formation of “H2 hubs”, an $8 billion program to build a clean hydrogen energy network around the country. Michigan threw in with six other midwestern states to try to become one of those hubs.
- 🤝 The Collab - Gov. Whitmer just announced a collaboration with a Norwegian hydrogen company called Nel to build an automatic gigawatt electrolyzer plant there. This plant will make equipment that can make energy from hydrogen processing. It’s all very technical, but it’ll make energy out of water. #simplicity
- ✔️ The Reasons - Nel looked at several states but chose Michigan because of its highly skilled workforce, cooperation with universities and research institutions, and financial incentives for the deal. It’s also close to the GM HQ in Detroit, which is already working with them on electrolyzer tech. Their wish list was granted, and now Michigan gets some goodies, too.
- 📈 The Numbers - The plant is projected to generate as much as $400 million of investment in the state, and create over 500 high paying manufacturing jobs. All that blue water will make some serious green!
- 1️⃣ The Details - The exact location in Michigan hasn’t been selected yet. But, it’ll be the first such “gigafactory” for hydrogen processing in the country. Dibs!
🔥Bottom line: It’s still very early and it’ll be a while before the plant is fully online. But, we love to see new businesses – that don’t provoke national security concerns – bring new jobs in! Paychecks will rejoice, and that means we will, too!
What do you think of hydrogen power?
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