Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Economy

You’ve Seen Taylor Krause on ‘Love Is Blind.’ Now Read Her Policy Paper.

The RMI federal policy manager and reality show star has some considered opinions on hydrogen.

Taylor Krause.
Heatmap Illustration/Netflix, Getty Images

Millions of Americans first met Washington, D.C., resident Taylor Krause when she appeared on Netflix’s dating show “Love Is Blind.” The series frames getting engaged as a type of matching problem, where contestants talk to each other, fall in love, and get engaged before they meet each other in person.

But here at Heatmap, we know Krause’s work because of a different type of matching problem: how to match clean hydrogen makers with new sources of clean electricity.

Krause works on the problem of decarbonizing heavy industry for the climate policy think tank RMI. Her team is wrapped up in a sprawling fight over how to regulate the clean hydrogen industry, a fight Heatmap followed keenly. The battle could determine how the government spends up to an estimated $100 billion in tax credits to incentivize the production of green hydrogen.

Treasury recently told Heatmap those regulations will be finalized by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the newest salvo in that fight — this being D.C., it took the form of a policy memo — was released on Monday by RMI. The white paper, coauthored by Krause, explains how developers could actually build clean hydrogen projects that are connected to the power grid while meeting the government’s stringent proposed standards.

It emerged in part from RMI’s collaboration with a “working group spanning developers, registries, and electricity forecasting experts,” according to the paper, and it proposes a series of ways hydrogen developers can meet the stringent “three pillars” standards the government has proposed. These rules would require that any electricity used to electrolyze water and extract hydrogen itself be produced by new zero-carbon sources during the same time period it’s used, and on the same power grid as the electrolyzer.

This three-step approach aims to keep the generous hydrogen tax credit from creating higher electricity prices across the power grid and generating more emissions than the hydrogen produced will mitigate, but it has been criticized by some companies for being too arduous and complicated to comply with. (Some hydrogen makers, such as the industrial gas-making giant Air Products, support the three pillars approach.)

One of the biggest topics the new memo tackles is the problem of buying clean electricity. If America regulates the clean hydrogen industry as the Biden administration has proposed, then eventually hydrogen companies will need to buy electricity credits from a “registry” — a company that can guarantee the power the hydrogen companies bought actually complies with the rules.

Those registries don’t exist right now. Until they do, the new memo argues, hydrogen makers should go straight to the source and solve the “matching problem” by contracting directly with a newly built solar, wind, or zero-carbon power source, using a two-way deal like a power purchase agreement, Nathan Iyer, a senior associate at RMI and co-author of the paper, told me. (Krause didn’t have time to talk.)

In other words: If you’re a clean hydrogen maker trying to buy electricity to power your electrolyzer, then love — or at least your procurement budget — should not be blind. Good to know. The memo ticks through a few other myths about the new standards that Krause and Iyer want to debunk. It’s a good reminder that while there might be no rules in love and war, there are more than 100 pages of proposed rules for taking advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean hydrogen production tax credit.

Blue

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Spotlight

New York’s Battery Backlash Catches Fire

Did a battery plant disaster in California spark a PR crisis on the East Coast?

battery
Heatmap Illustration

Battery fire fears are fomenting a storage backlash in New York City – and it risks turning into fresh PR hell for the industry.

Aggrieved neighbors, anti-BESS activists, and Republican politicians are galvanizing more opposition to battery storage in pockets of the five boroughs where development is actually happening, capturing rapt attention from other residents as well as members of the media. In Staten Island, a petition against a NineDot Energy battery project has received more than 1,300 signatures in a little over two months. Two weeks ago, advocates – backed by representatives of local politicians including Rep. Nicole Mallitokis – swarmed a public meeting on the project, getting a local community board to vote unanimously against the project.

Keep reading...Show less
Hotspots

Bad News for Agrivoltaics in Ohio

And more of the week’s top conflicts around renewable energy.

Map of renewable energy conflicts.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Queen Anne’s County, Maryland – They really don’t want you to sign a solar lease out in the rural parts of this otherwise very pro-renewables state.

  • County officials this week issued a public notice encouraging all residents to consider the economic impacts of taking farmland out of use to build solar farms.
  • “The Queen Anne’s County Commissioners are concerned that large-scale conversion of farmland to solar energy facilities may impact the long-term viability of agriculture in the county and surrounding region,” read the notice, which told anyone approached by a solar company about their land to immediately consult an attorney and think about these “key considerations.”
  • “As more farmland is transitioned to solar use, the demand for these agricultural support services diminishes. If enough land is taken out of production, it could create serious challenges for those who wish to continue farming.”
  • It’s not immediately clear whether this was related to a specific project or an overall rise in renewables development that’s happening in the county. But there’s a clear trend going on. Officials said in an accompanying press release that officials in neighboring Caroline County sent a similar notice to property owners. And it seems Worcester County did something similar last month.

2. Logan County, Ohio – Staff for the Ohio Power Siting Board have recommended it reject Open Road Renewables’ Grange Solar agrivoltaics project.

Keep reading...Show less
Policy Watch

This Week in Trumpian Climate Chaos

On the week’s top news around renewable energy policy.

Musk and Trump in the Oval Office.
Getty Images/Heatmap Illustration

1. IRA funding freeze update – Money is starting to get out the door, finally: the EPA unfroze most of its climate grant funding it had paused after Trump entered office.

2. Scalpel vs. sledgehammer – House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled Republicans in Congress may take a broader approach to repealing the Inflation Reduction Act than previously expected in tax talks.

Keep reading...Show less