2019 ReportAccomplishments and Ambitions

Letter From The PresidentDon Ruff, RHA Board President

It is my pleasure to introduce this 2019 Progress Report capturing the accomplishments of the Renewable Hydrogen Alliance from its incorporation in June of 2018 through its first full calendar year, 2019. RHA hit the ground running from its inception, and hasn’t looked back.

This journey began well before RHA’s incorporation. The story of RHA’s founding is well covered on the website – NW Natural hiring Ken Dragoon to do a report on Power-to-Gas and Ken discovering how far advanced that topic had become in Europe and seeing the need to provide education and advocacy here in the US. Puget Sound Energy became an early enthusiastic supporter of forming an advocacy organization, Bonneville Environmental Foundation funded the incorporation effort and the fantastic growth of the organization since then is now history.

We are proud that RHA has developed a reputation well beyond its modest beginning. In its first 18 months RHA:

• Helped pass Washington State Legislation, opening doors to hydrogen production including incentives for hydrogen transportation and infrastructure;

• Organized a sold-out symposium drawing attendees from at least ten states and four countries and featuring a hydrogen transit bus from Ohio;

• Launched a public information campaign reaching thousands of decision makers across the Northwest and North America, and around the world;

• Acquired nearly 60 members across North America and Europe;• Built a political presence in the Western States, and now building a national reputation for

effectiveness.

The work and opportunities ahead are almost unimaginably large, and RHA is adapting to meet the needs we foresee. As the year ends, RHA is undertaking a reevaluation of its structure, its funding, its goals, and its future. It is my job to ensure that this organization succeeds in its mission to ensure greater use of renewable electricity to create climate-neutral fuels. I pledge continued support for that mission and look forward to meeting the challenge.

Promote using renewable electricity to produce climate-neutral hydrogen and other energy-intensive products that reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Our Mission —

Founding MembersBy the end of 2019, RHA has attracted nearly 60 members representing: electric and gas utility companies; clean energy advocacy organizations; project developers; law firms; consultants; transit agencies; and manufacturers of hydrogen electrolyzers, fuel cells, and fuel cell vehicles. RHA is eternally grateful for its Founding Members who provided early seed money that allowed us to hit the ground running.

Education and advocacy form the backbone of RHA’s work. The first important step is simply getting the message out that renewable electricity can produce storable fuels capable of fully decarbonizing not only the electric grid but also transportation and industrial processes. That message is backed up with the reality of the technology, which is largely unknown to North American policy-makers. Some facts help make this case:

It is sometimes said that eighty percent of success is just showing up—and showing up with our message of hope and progress is what RHA does. We show up in executive suites at utilities, with other renewable-resource advocates, at utility commissions, with legislators and at legislative hearings, in the media, at conferences, and in our own events!

Aciem Consulting

Barlow Strategies

Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Center for Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Technologies

NW Green Hydrogen

Columbia HyFuel

Douglas County PUD

Eugene Water & Electric Board

Flink Energy Consulting

HydroStar USA

ITM Power

Klickitat PUD

Mark Thompson, Sanger Law

NW Natural

Obsidian Renewables

PERA

Puget Sound Energy

Renewable Hydrogen Canada

Renewable Northwest

Research Strategy Content

Tacoma Public Utilities

The Warren Group

Toyota

TriMet

Vashon Climate Action Group

Warner Hydrogen

Promote using renewable electricity to produce climate-neutral hydrogen and other energy-intensive products that reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Education and Advocacy

In the United States:

• At least 25,000 hydrogen forklifts in operation

• Some 7,900 light-duty passenger fuel cell electric vehicles in service

About 50 hydrogen transit buses

• Two manufacturers that have developed prototype heavy-duty trucks

• A hydrogen ferry under construction in San Francisco

• San Bernardino’s order for will likely be the first US hydrogen commuter train

• Commercial hydrogen aircraft in development

A crowning achievement for 2019 was the Renewable Power to Clean Fuels Symposium which brought

together experts in renewable electricity, power-to-fuels technologies, hydrogen transportation, clean fuels

markets, and policy. The sold-out audience of 160 came from at least ten states, two Canadian provinces,

and three European countries. RHA vastly expanded its reach and kindled conversations among the diverse

constituencies that need to cooperate to launch the hydrogen fuels industry in North America.

The Symposium featured two commercially available hydrogen vehicles, a Toyota Mirai from California and an

El Dorado fuel cell bus from the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority in Ohio. The conference spurred House

Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter DeFazio’s office to request RHA’s help in holding a hydrogen

roundtable three months later. Toyota determined that its Mirai sedan would remain stationed in the Portland

area due to the interest being developed by RHA in the region.

Renewable Power to Clean Fuels Symposium

RHA has presented at meetings and conferences from Boston to Seattle to San Diego. On average, RHA

delivers a public presentation every ten days, with invitations to speak at events across the US. RHA has

presented to staff and commissioners of the Oregon and Washington utility commissions, to the Washington

State Future of Carbon Policy Conference, the North American Storage Association Conference, the annual

Northwest and Intermountain Power Producers Coalition conference, Renewable Northwest’s annual retreat,

the Energy Newsdata Electrification and Decarbonization Conference, and the US Hydrogen & Fuel Cells

Summit, among many others.

These efforts have been rewarded with increasing numbers of policy leaders mentioning hydrogen as

an important component of meeting climate goals. However there is much more work to be done. RHA

underscores that fuel cell vehicles are electric vehicles and should receive policy supports analogous to all

other electric vehicles, sometimes omitted from legislation and policy initiatives. Creating fuels from electricity

is still not widely accepted as the crucial means of energy storage it is, while regulations too often omit such

storage from energy storage mandates.

“There is no way to get to 100% renewable energy that I can see right now without hydrogen in the mix. It doesn’t exist.” — L.A.D.W.P. General Manager Marty Adams

“The Renewable Hydrogen Alliance’s support for Washington’s renewable hydrogen legislation was a key factor in passage of our landmark bill. I greatly appreciated RHA’s expertise during House and Senate committee testimony and their advocacy and information throughout the entire process. I thank RHA for their great support and look forward to working with them again on issues of benefit to the economy and the environment for the citizens of Washington State and beyond. “ — Senator Hawkins

The 2019 legislative session in Washington State was a watershed

for policy on creating renewable fuels from electricity. RHA testified

in favor of member Douglas County PUD’s measure (SB 5588) to

authorize state public utility districts to make and sell renewable

hydrogen. The bill, sponsored by Republican Senator Brad Hawkins,

was signed into law by Democratic Governor Jay Inslee without a

single dissenting vote in either legislative branch. RHA’s diversity of

support from clean energy advocacy organizations, gas utilities, and

both consumer-owned and investor-owned electric utilities brought

our interests out of the partisan divide.

Ably represented by The Warren Group, RHA was able to impact

other legislation supporting renewable hydrogen and hydrogen

transportation infrastructure. Washington’s Clean Energy Transition

Act (a 100-percent-clean-energy bill) added “renewable hydrogen”

as a qualifying resource, and renewable hydrogen infrastructure and

vehicles as qualifying energy transformation project investments.

Renewable hydrogen was codified as a form of renewable natural

gas, while the Green Transportation bill and other transportation

electrification bills were adjusted to include hydrogen vehicles in the

definition of qualifying electric vehicles.

Photo: Sen. Brad Hawkins’ office

Legislative Successes

PressOfficials with the Douglas County

PUD and Renewable Hydrogen

Alliance testified in favor of the bill

during its March 14 public hearing in

the House Environment and Energy

Committee.

Hydrogen Energy with Ken Dragoon

-Click logo to hear more

-Click logo to hear more

In an interview Wednesday, Ken

Dragoon said “the prospects

for development of a renewable

hydrogen industry around the

country are probably strongest in

the Pacific Northwest because of the

availability of surplus hydropower

at low prices.”

“The sky’s the limit for

this,” said Ken Dragoon,

Executive Director for

the Renewable Hydrogen

Alliance. “It’s a huge

amount of fuel.”

Commercial DevelopmentEducation and advocacy are a means to an end, and the end is eliminating fossil fuels by creating climate-neutral fuels from renewable electricity. When RHA was incorporated in June 2018 there were no electrolyzer projects being actively pursued in the Northwest; now there are at least three. Douglas County PUD is negotiating purchase of an electrolyzer that would be the first in the region; other utilities are working with partners to create other new electrolyzer projects; and developers have approached RHA to discuss potential hundred-megawatt-scale projects. Within a year it is very likely the Northwest will see at least one completed electrolyzer producing carbon-free hydrogen, as well as its first retail hydrogen vehicle fueling stations. RHA’s advocacy is paying off!

• Electrofuels Roadmap Study. RHA will leverage existing studies to determine the quantities of renewable electricity and fuels derived from renewable electricity that will be needed to meet 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets in the Pacific Northwest. The study will also develop a portfolio of policies needed to achieve the production levels identified.

• Increased presence in western states and collaboration with other regions. RHA will leverage its legislative and other successes in Washington State to seek similar impacts in other nearby states while working closely with organizations whose efforts are focused in Western North America.

• Organizational development. RHA will continue a review of its structure, begun in 2019, to establish a firm organizational foundation for continued success and a position to achieve its central goal: ensuring sufficient supplies of climate-neutral fuels to achieve 100% renewable power grids and emission reduction targets in industry and transportation.

RHA will hold its second annual Symposium on April 13, 2020, in Tacoma, WA, in collaboration

with the Green Transportation Summit & Expo.

Coming UpThe success of 2019 forms a springboard for growth in 2020. Early 2020 will see a focus on setting the organization on a firmer foundation to accommodate both growth in membership and an increase in education, outreach and policy development. Our primary goals for the year are:

3DegreesAndiomaBallard Power SystemsBarlow StrategiesBonneville Environmental FoundationBulldog Energy ProvidersCable HustonCalifornia Hydrogen Business CouncilCanadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell AssociationCascadia Energy TechnologiesCenter for Energy Efficiency and Renewable TechnologiesCenter for Transportation and the EnvironmentColumbia HyFuelColumbia-Willamette Clean Cities CoalitionDouglas County PUDEugene Water & Electric BoardFlink Energy ConsultingForth Mobility

FortisBCJames GardnerLynda GardnerH2B2 USAJeff HammarlundChristopher HintonHitachi Zosen InovaHydrogenicsHydroStar USAITM PowerKlickitat County PUDMcDowell Rackner & GibsonEric MickNavigant ConsultingNikola Motor CompanyNorthwest Energy CoalitionNorthwest Green HydrogenNorthwest Innovation WorksNW NaturalObsidian RenewablesOregon Applied ResearchPacifica Marine Services,Inc

PERAPhoenix FinancePortland General ElectricProton Onsite/Nel HydrogenPuget Sound EnergyRed Rocket StrategiesRenewable Hydrogen CanadaRenewable NorthwestIan RichardsonRoberto RuizSolar KiSolar OregonSouthern California Gas Co.Tacoma PowerThe Warren GroupToyota Motor North AmericaTriMetVashon Climate Action GroupWarner Hydrogen

Our members are the strength of the organization. We invite you to join with us in creating a livable planet for generations to come.

Join Us

Renewable Hydrogen Alliance

(503) 386-2010 | info@renewableh2.org | RenewableH2.org

This annual report is printed on recycled paper that contains post-consumer waste.

To find out about joining RHA,

please visit: https://www.renewableh2.org/become-a-member/.

To see more of our achievements and learn more about renewable hydrogen,

visit: www.renewableh2.org.

RHA is a non-profit 501(c)(6) organization based in Portland, Oregon, established to advocate using

surplus renewable electricity to produce climate-neutral fuels and other energy-intensive products

that reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

RHA engages in education and outreach to utilities, the renewable energy and environmental

communities, regulators, legislators, and others, to promote climate-neutral fuels from renewable

electricity as critical to reaching climate change goals, and to serve as a renewable hydrogen

information clearinghouse.