The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced $3.7 million is now available to support clean hydrogen-based fuel cell resources in New York. The announcement is intended to advance the development and demonstration of innovative fuel cell technologies as a potential dispatchable solution to maintain grid reliability and resilience and decarbonize industrial processes while integrating increasing amounts of renewable energy such as wind and solar.

The competitive solicitation, offered through NYSERDA’s Advanced Fuels and Thermal Energy Storage Program, seeks qualified proposers to develop workable designs for clean hydrogen-based fuel cell solutions to serve as firm capacity for a balanced electricity grid, or to help decarbonize industrial manufacturing processes. Proposals will be accepted from eligible project teams composed of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms, clean hydrogen fuel suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, as well as operators or owners of power generation assets or industrial facilities.

The program has two phases:

• Phase One: will award up to $250,000 for initial scoping efforts including evaluation of different designs, completion of high-level designs, initial cost and emission analysis, and identification of the best design option for further analysis in Phase Two.

• Phase Two: will focus on performing a more detailed assessment of the design option selected in Phase One including early engineering design work, safety and permitting reviews, a community and stakeholder engagement plan, conceptual site layout and equipment arrangement and a timeline to implement the project.

Each proposal must include complete scopes of work for both phases and meet the solicitation criteria specified for design, equipment scope, and site selection. Selected Phase One projects will be evaluated based on outcomes to determine if they will be selected to receive Phase Two funding, which will vary based on the size of the project and total number of projects moving forward to this phase NYSERDA reserves the right not to move forward with the second phase of an award based on its evaluation and the continued availability of funding.

New York State’s investments in research, development, and commercialization support innovators accelerating the clean energy transition to meet the State’s goal for economy-wide carbon neutrality. NYSERDA’s Innovation and Research (I&R) program is deploying approximately $1.2 billion over 15 years as direct research investments and commercialization support. To date, more than $800 million in investments have supported more than 700 companies and made approximately 300 products commercially available to individuals, businesses, and utilities.

Funding for this initiative is through the Clean Energy Fund.