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CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION - Hydrogen Factsheet

Jun 10, 2021

The California Energy Commission (CEC) recognizes hydrogen as a vital component in the state's efforts to achieve carbon neutrality, emphasizing its potential to reduce emissions in the transportation sector, cater to industrial and commercial needs, and serve as a fuel for firm generation and energy storage.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) recognizes hydrogen as a vital component in the state's efforts to achieve carbon neutrality, emphasizing its potential to reduce emissions in the transportation sector, cater to industrial and commercial needs, and serve as a fuel for firm generation and energy storage. The document classifies hydrogen based on its production methods:


  1. Gray Hydrogen: Produced from fossil fuel feedstocks without carbon capture at the point of production. It accounts for over 95% of global hydrogen production.

  2. Blue Hydrogen: Produced from fossil fuel feedstocks with carbon capture at the point of production. It is primarily used in petroleum refining and ammonia production.

  3. Green Hydrogen: Includes multiple carbon-neutral production pathways such as electrolytic hydrogen (power-to-gas) using an electrolyzer powered by renewable electricity, biogas reforming, and artificial photosynthesis.

Hydrogen has diverse applications, including in the power sector (backup power, distributed generation, hydrogen turbines, etc.), transportation (trucks, passenger vehicles, buses, trains, etc.), industry (ammonia, methanol, refining, steel production, etc.), and buildings (combined heat and power, hydrogen boilers, etc.).


Since 2008, the CEC has invested $242 million in hydrogen research, development, and deployment projects. As of May 2021, investments include $169.4 million for publicly available hydrogen refueling infrastructure, resulting in 50 stations, with an aim to have 179 stations by 2026. The revised state budget proposal emphasizes both EV and hydrogen transportation infrastructure, with proposed investments including $500 million general use funds, of which $300 million is allocated for light-duty passenger vehicle infrastructure and $200 million for medium- and heavy-duty electric and hydrogen infrastructure. The CEC's future research investments exceed $22 million, focusing on areas like renewable hydrogen production, hydrogen blending into the existing California natural gas system, and scaling green hydrogen production and use.

Read the fact sheet here:



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