Senate Appropriations Committee Shows Support for Fuel Cells

This month the full Senate Appropriations Committee took up the Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2012. The bill was referred out of the committee to the whole Senate. The Committee issued a report to accompany the referral of this bill to the Senate. In this report the Committee reiterated its support for fuel cells.

In the report the committee recommended that $98 million be allocated to hydrogen and fuel cell technologies program within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). This funding is just $2 million below the President’s FY 2012 Budget Request, and $7 million higher than what the House appropriated.

The committee also showed great support by including favorable report language. The report highlighted the successes of the hydrogen and fuel cell technology program , explaining that the industry has “met or exceeded all benchmarks, and has made significant progress in decreasing costs and increasing efficiency and durability of fuel cell and hydrogen energy systems.” The committee also specifically called for “continued and stable” funding for the program. The committee recommended spending be directed towards hydrogen infrastructure, hydrogen fuel R&D and Market Transformation in early markets.

The House Appropriation Committee met earlier in the summer to pass the Energy and Water Development appropriation bill. In their report the committee spoke of the role solid oxide fuels (SOFC) can play in the future. The committee said SOFCs have the potential to “contribute significantly to the development of alternative-fuel vehicles.” As such, the House recommended appropriation of $25 million for DOE research into SOFC through the Office of Fossil Energy in FY 2012. This was a victory for the industry as the President had zeroed out funding to the SOFC program in Fossil Energy. The Senate followed the President’s recommendation on Fossil Energy Appropriations.

The differences between the Senate and the House bills regarding funding to the Offices of Fossil Energy and EERE will need to be resolved in Conference Committee.

Continuing Resolution for FY 2012 Cuts Spending Across the Board

This week the House of Representatives is debating a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government beyond September 30th, the end of the fiscal year. The CR would fund ongoing programs until November 18th or until an appropriations act for 2012 is enacted. The CR would continue funding for programs funded in 2011 appropriations, but decreased across the board by 1.409% from their 2011 appropriation.

If the CR were enacted as is, the Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program Account would see a more significant cut in funding. The CR reduces this program by a total of $1.5 billion to offset increases in funding to FEMA for disaster relief associated with the 2011 flooding and the Army Corp of Engineers to repair damages from the 2011 flooding.

The ATVM Loan Program provides direct loans to companies to encourage the development of advanced, fuel efficient vehicles, including fuel cell electric vehicles. There are applications pending from fuel cell electric vehicle manufactures that could be affected if the funding is cut to the ATVM program.

For More information, follow the link here.