Joining us in California is Adam Weber, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Lab Program Manager at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, so we caught up with Weber ahead of the event to find out more about what we can expect from his presentation.

 Thank you for taking the time to talk to H2 View today. Firstly, for readers who may not be familiar with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can you tell us more about the company and how it got into the hydrogen space?

Sure. Thanks for having me. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory or Berkeley Lab is the first US Department of Energy (DOE) National Lab and conducts unclassified research into various fundamental and applied science from deep space to Crispr to appliance standards to element discovery, as well as hosts different DOE user facilities such as the Advanced Light Source and the Molecular Foundry.

In terms of hydrogen, Berkeley Lab has been working on different hydrogen science and technologies for over three decades focused a lot on fuel cells and their individual components.

Adam, you’re speaking at H2 View’s North American Hydrogen Summit 2022 in the Hydrogen Hubs: Emerging session. Can you give us a tease of what you’ll be discussing here?

We will discuss not only what is going in California in terms of hydrogen hub preparation, but also the technological trends we are seeing and the opportunity for hydrogen to be the decarbonisation energy vector of the future.

Can you tell us more about Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s role in the North American hydrogen market and some exciting projects the company is currently working on?

Berkeley Lab is currently involved in the leadership of large DOE consortia composed of National Labs, Industry, and Academia.

The main ones are H2NEW and the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) Consortia, where LBNL is working to drive down the cost of both high and low temperature electrolysers as well as increase performance, efficiency, and durability for fuel cells for heavy-duty applications.

In addition, Berkeley Lab also has a robust programme for next generation hydrogen storage materials including sorbents, hydrides, and chemical carriers, as well as developing advanced water splitting pathways such as photoelectrochemical and anion-exchange membrane electrolysis.

Berkeley Lab conducts translational science from fundamental to applied, all guided by in depth life cycle and technoeconomic analyses.

What do you believe is the biggest driver for hydrogen in the North American market right now?

The biggest driver is a confluence of increasingly inexpensive green electrons from renewables and the need to store and use them combined with the increasing recognition of the need to decarbonise all sectors of the economy.

Hydrogen is the main way to decarbonise the hard to decarbonise applications such as long-haul or heavy-duty transport, ports, materials handling, power, and industry.

On the contrary, what do you think needs to be done in order to see increased investment and interest in the hydrogen industry?

There needs to be increased deployment and pipelines to go from discovery to deployment rapidly. Although scaling up existing technologies can lower the costs, new innovations are needed to meet the DOE HydrogenShot target of $1 for 1 kg in one decade, and these need to be scaled up and deployed rapidly.

Read more: US DOE to slash cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 this decade

Finally, what are you most looking forward to when we touch down in San Francisco in July?

I am looking forward to meeting and networking with all of the new ideas and concepts and recognition for hydrogen. It’s a brand-new day and I’m looking forward towards making the hydrogen economy a wide-spread reality.