October 8 is recognized by scientists and engineers as Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, a nod to the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008). Since hydrogen and fuel cells are storable, energy-dense, and can be produced and used without generating greenhouse gas emissions, they are well-positioned to help reduce carbon emissions across sectors.

We asked Sandi Safro, EEI associate general counsel, energy and technology regulation, to discuss hydrogen and how it can be used as a carbon-free resource as EEI member companies lead the clean energy transition. She co-hosts the Hydrogen Rising podcast, co-leads the Women+ in Hydrogen networking group, and is knowledgeable about all things hydrogen. 

For those who don’t know you, can you introduce yourself and describe your role at EEI?

First, thank you for the opportunity to talk about hydrogen and Women+ in Hydrogen, especially as part of a celebration of National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day. I joined EEI a little more than two years ago and am EEI’s associate general counsel for energy and technology regulation. Before I joined EEI, I was a partner at K&L Gates LLP, where I co-led the firm’s global Oil & Gas group and had focused most of my practice on regulatory, policy, and commercial issues for shippers on natural gas and oil pipelines and for liquefied natural gas project developers and customers. I had an increasing interest in clean energy technologies, including hydrogen, which led me to co-found the firm’s Hydrogen practice and ultimately drew me to the position at EEI. 

In my role at EEI, I work on several issues directly and indirectly related to the clean energy transition and emerging clean energy technologies. This includes helping lead the Clean Technology R&D Subcommittee within our Environment Executive Advisory Committee, working on the Carbon-Free Technology Initiative, and working in concert with other EEI teams on a variety of clean energy technology issues including Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act implementation, as well as responding to federal agency requests for information and proposed rules.

Your career has focused on many important issues in the energy industry, and it’s clear that you have deep expertise on hydrogen. What led you to focus on this?

My initial interest in hydrogen came about somewhat serendipitously—in late 2019, a few years before I joined EEI, a colleague and I had a meeting with a German delegation and one of the attendees asked how much hydrogen we were blending into our pipelines in the United States (the answer is very small amounts). This led to a broader conversation about Germany’s hydrogen efforts and, not long after, we began to notice articles popping up in the trade press about hydrogen with increasing frequency. That momentum only continued as countries around the world started to explore hydrogen as a tool to help reduce carbon emissions and began to announce hydrogen plans and roadmaps. 

Hydrogen is an energy resource that is so versatile that it can really capture the imagination. For me, the parallels between natural gas and liquefied natural gas were an initial draw. Also, seeing not just U.S. government support for hydrogen, but support from several other countries helped solidify that this could be the time that hydrogen takes off and does so in a big way. For our members, hydrogen has the potential to serve various roles, including a resource for EGUs, a method of long-duration storage for renewables, a fuel for company fleets, and in customer heating applications. There are many challenges that must be overcome for hydrogen to reach scale and our members are actively engaged in research and on pilot and demonstration projects to help overcome some of these barriers. This work is really exciting to watch and to be a part of. It helps keep hydrogen as an area of interest for me.

How would you describe hydrogen to someone who is not in this industry? 

As I mentioned, hydrogen is a versatile energy resource—it can be produced from a number of commodities that already are part of our energy economy and through a number of different processes. For example, hydrogen can be produced from water, natural gas, and even waste—and there is increasing research into producing hydrogen from geological formations. This means that instead of production being centralized in just one area, hydrogen can be produced across multiple regions. The potential applications also touch almost every sector from transportation, to industry, to the power sector. Because hydrogen itself does not contain any carbon and it can be used to replace fossil fuels in so many areas, hydrogen has significant potential to help us reach our climate goals.

How can hydrogen be used as an energy source to help integrate more clean energy in the generation mix? Is it ever used in conjunction with another source of energy to create a cleaner form of energy?  

Storage is one of the challenges with intermittent renewable energy resources and that’s a place where hydrogen can help play a role and integrate more clean energy into the mix. For example, in times of low demand, electricity from wind and solar can be used to produce hydrogen from water. The resulting hydrogen molecule can then be stored and, when the electricity is needed, the hydrogen molecules can be converted back into electrons using a fuel cell. 
There are also multiple ways to use hydrogen in conjunction with other energy sources to create a cleaner form of energy. For example, there is research into using hydrogen with diesel in dual-fuel combustion systems for vehicles. Another example, and one that’s more directly focused on our industry, is blending hydrogen with natural gas for power generation and in customer-use applications, and many EEI members are engaged in pilot and demonstration projects exploring this.

There are many different “colors” of hydrogen. Not actual colors, of course, more like different types of hydrogen. What “color” are most people referring to when we talk about cleaner forms of hydrogen?

You are totally right that the “colors” are not literal—hydrogen is colorless and, once produced, the molecules are essentially fungible. The colors instead are a shorthand way to refer to how the hydrogen was produced, but the colors become complicated because there is not universal agreement on what each color means and there are production pathways that are not clearly covered by one color or another. As a result, there is increasing interest in talking about the production pathway and its carbon intensity.

When talking about “clean hydrogen,” the production pathways that are most commonly being referred to are from natural gas using carbon capture; from water using renewable energy such as wind, solar, and hydropower; and from water using nuclear power. There is also increasing discussion about methane pyrolysis, which results in hydrogen gas and carbon solids.

Can you tell us more about your Women+ in Hydrogen networking group and how interested women can join?

Women+ in Hydrogen is an informal networking group primarily intended for those who identify as female in the hydrogen sector to connect and collaborate. We also host events where we invite allies and champions to join us. When Martina Steinkusz of the Renewable Hydrogen Alliance and I started the group in mid-2020, there were a small number of us who met virtually on a monthly basis to network and share ideas, talk about developments, and learn from one another. With the help of many of our Women+ in Hydrogen members, I’m excited to report that we are now a network of nearly 550 women. We continue to host our monthly networking calls, which are reserved for those who identify as female. We also host an annual half-day event in March to celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month (open to allies and champions), featuring substantive panels with all female speakers and networking opportunities. As conferences have moved back to in-person, we have started to host more panels and events at and around conferences throughout the year, many of which are open to allies and champions.

Folks can join Women+ in Hydrogen or learn about our upcoming events using our LinkedIn groups. Our LinkedIn networking group, which is a space we reserve for those who identify as female and provides a way to sign up for our monthly networking calls, is available here. We also have a main page on LinkedIn, which is open to allies and champions, where we post information about upcoming events, available here.