§16157 Demonstration

Summary

The Secretary must pay for a small number of demonstration projects to test hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies. Projects should be chosen based on how ready, cost-effective, and environmentally sound the technology is. Priority goes to projects that do things like use hydrogen at existing sites (office buildings, military bases, transit centers, national parks), provide reliable power for important work, help bring hydrogen tech into the market, show vehicle, portable, and stationary uses, link fuel demand to fueling infrastructure, increase public awareness, compare competing technologies, use renewable sources for local power, test systems in national parks, islands, and tribal lands, run demonstrations for light, heavy, fleet, specialty, and backup power uses, create regional hydrogen supply corridors along interstates when codes allow, and explore hydrogen blends and hydrogen from renewable farm fuels. Projects that cover several of these goals are preferred. The program also gives cost-sharing grants to groups to design system ideas. These include vehicle designs that cut driving energy and move into a new research phase after 2010, and local distributed energy systems that combine renewable hydrogen production, off-grid power, and fuel-cell uses for buildings or farms, run with industry and government partners. After 2008 for stationary and portable uses and after 2010 for vehicles, the Secretary, with advisors, must identify new technical needs and update the program. Authorized funding is $185,000,000 for 2006; $200,000,000 for 2007; $250,000,000 for 2008; $300,000,000 for 2009; $375,000,000 for 2010; and whatever is needed for 2011–2020.