Think Tank Warns Loosening Clean Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Could Raise Electricity Prices and Increase Emissions.

Think tank Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology has warned that loosening qualification requirements for the “clean hydrogen” production tax credit, created in the Inflation Reduction Act, could increase wholesale electricity prices by up to 10 percent and increase greenhouse gas emissions and set back efforts to reduce U.S. climate pollution by 2030. Some hydrogen producers and congressional Democrats have criticized Treasury’s proposed rules for the 45V credit, which was named after its place in the tax code. Critics have also opposed the requirement that companies prove they are using new clean energy to ensure hydrogen production doesn’t divert renewable power from the grid. Energy Innovation found that dozens of studies support Treasury’s three-pillar approach, which requires eligible projects to draw clean energy from the same geographic area and use it when hydrogen production is producing hydrogen.