Editorial: Oregon’s big hydrogen energy win

Published 5:00 am Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Oregon racked up a big energy win with $1 billion in federal dollars coming to Oregon, Washington and Montana.

It’s going toward a regional hub for hydrogen power.

Hydrogen power can be produced with near-zero emission of greenhouse gases by producing hydrogen with clean energy from renewables. And when hydrogen is used to produce electricity in a fuel cell, the byproducts are water vapor and warm air.

Pretty damn good.

What Oregon, Washington and Montana hope to do with the northwest hydrogen hub is develop ways to use hydrogen to decarbonize some sectors of the economy, such as aviation and manufacturing, that are so difficult to decarbonize.

The federal investment may create 8,000 temporary jobs and 350 jobs for the long term.

The nation is smack in the middle of an energy transition. What will the mix of energy sources look like — solar, wind, nuclear and hydrogen? What role would or should fossil fuels play?

People will have different views of how they want this transition to play out. Scaling up hydrogen in Oregon helps ensure Oregon plays an important role in the nation’s energy future.