Achievements

FCHEA has an international membership encompassing the full spectrum of the hydrogen economy, including the various pathways of production, distribution, storage, and use in fuel cells and other technologies across a range of applications from transportation, power generation, industrial processes, derivitiaves, and more.

A major signature hydrogen policy enacted was the Section 45V Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen. This financial incentive has the potential to supercharge the scale-up of the hydrogen industry in the U.S. FCHEA has recognized the importance of flexible implementation guidance to assure that proposed projects across the country are given the opportunity to succeed and drive down the costs across the value chain.

FCHEA has been the leading industry voice supporting this flexibility. From meetings with the Administration and White House, comments and sign-on letters, opinion editorials, media interviews, building stakeholder coalitions with like minded Associations, webinars and speaking opportunities, and a suite of advertising efforts, FCHEA has been at the forefront of advocacy around the 45V credit.  After more than three years of deliberations, the Final Rulemaking for the Section 45V Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen was released in January 2025, which adopted a range of requests championed by FCHEA and our members to provide additional flexibilities and support for commercialization of clean hydrogen production in the United States.  FCHEA provided detailed written comments, testified before IRS and Treasury, and led a wide-range of advocacy activities with Congress and the Administration on this credit resulting in strong positive response in the Final Rules.

The final guidance for the Section 48 Energy Credit, which includes a 30% Investment Tax Credit for hydrogen energy storage property, included several key changes championed by FCHEA and its members. This includes removing the energy-only use requirement for hydrogen storage equipment and expanding the list of supported equipment under the credit to include limited hydrogen pipelines, liquefaction equipment, and underground hydrogen storage and compression.

FCHEA advocated for, and secured, new hydrogen provisions in the “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024,” including expanding the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) and Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels and Environment (ASCENT) to include hydrogen and the development of a hydrogen aviation strategy.

Beyond 45V, FCHEA continues to demonstrate our leadership as the go to hydrogen organization in D.C. by leading the way on hydrogen and fuel cell appropriations. With our membership, FCHEA also engaged on a wide range of other tax items including extending the fuel cell ITC, expanding the alternative fueling property for hydrogen, encouraging the advanced manufacturing credit, and more. FCHEA staff and members also expanded into a host of new and emerging topics including hydrogen permitting, pipeline regulation, PFAS activities, EPA power plant rules, Surface Transportation reauthorization, PHMSA reauthorization, and support for standalone bills that support industry.

FCHEA’s continued leadership as the advocate in D.C. for hydrogen has also resulted in several billion dollars awarded to the hydrogen industry across a wide range of other tax and grant initiatives funded by the IIJA and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA).

In past year, through our regular outreach efforts, we expanded the House Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus to thirty members, including 18 Democrats and 12 Republicans. Our Senate Caucus remains at the very substantial level of nine bi-partisan members. FCHEA hosts highly successful annual  Congressional briefings on the Hill for members and staffers. We also increased our new weekly Congressional Update newsletter specific for Hill Staff to more than 250 subscribers.

FCHEA has continued to use its online platforms to grow awareness of the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. FCHEA’s regular newsletters go to thousands of stakeholders each month providing comprehensive overviews of industry developments. Our social media presence is the third largest hydrogen organization on LinkedIn attracting more than 250,000 impressions in 2024 with more than 43,000 followers. Our blog posts, which are developed with member input, attracted over 114,000 website visits in 2024.  Finally, National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, an annual event developed by FCHEA that ran for its tenth year in 2024, continued to gain strong domestic and international attention and participation from both the public and private sectors, including designations in the U.S. Senate.

FCHEA strengthened and expanded our relationships with Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Administration through a wide range of events and webinars. FCHEA’s President, Frank Wolak, serves as Chair of the Global Hydrogen Industrial Association Alliance (GHIAA) to engage with twenty four international counterpart associations around the world. In addition, FCHEA joined a wide range of other international partnerships including supporting The World Bank Hydrogen for Development Partnership (H4D), signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukraine Ministry of Energy, engaging with the Denmark Green Hydrogen Alliance, hosting a joint U.S.-France Business-to-Business Workshop, speaking at the U.S.-Germany Hydrogen Cooperation Workshop, hosting the 20th anniversary of the government-to-government meeting of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE), and leading efforts to coordinate an ITA/IMPACT Southern Cone Delegation visit in California.

FCHEA is the managing organization of the long-standing Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Seminar, and worked with international organizations on sponsorships, program development, and exhibitions to facilitate business relationships between different countries and companies.