The Department of Energy preserves nearly 5 billion dollars in hydrogen hub funding for 2026
The Department of Energy will preserve nearly 5 billion dollars in hydrogen hub funding for 2026, confirming awards for 5 regional clean hydrogen hubs nationwide after reviewing more than 2,200 energy projects, a trade publication reported in September 2026. A hydrogen hub is a group of hydrogen producers, pipelines and buyers that share 1 federal grant instead of applying alone, an idea created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told a Senate hearing in April 2026 that the department is still paying for the hubs, just slowly.
We are absolutely funding these in phases and will be working with those various contracting groups to see their progress.
Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy, speaking at a Senate hearing in April 2026. Source 1.
Wright own word, phases, sounds like a small delay. A dated 2025 dollar figure later in this article shows what phases actually looked like for 1 hub, months before this 2026 review.
Which hydrogen hubs are still getting paid
2 of the 5 surviving hubs serve Pennsylvania. MACH2, the Mid Atlantic Hydrogen Hub, serves Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, carries a federal cost share ceiling of up to 750 million dollars, the most the federal government has committed to pay toward the project, and projects more than 20,000 jobs. ARCH2, the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, serves Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia and projects more than 21,000 jobs. Of those, 18,000 are construction jobs that end once building is done, and only 3,000 are permanent jobs that last after the hub opens.
Construction jobs end once building is finished. Permanent jobs are the ones that last after the hub opens.
Show the numbers
| Construction jobs | 18000 |
| Permanent operational jobs | 3000 |
A January 2025 funding record shows what funding in phases actually pays
A Department of Energy press release from January 2025, more than a year before the 2026 review this article covers, states the actual dollars released so far against each hub own ceiling. MACH2 had received 18.8 million dollars of its 750 million dollar ceiling, about 2.5%, a MAOWCE calculation from those 2 sourced figures. A comparable hub, the Heartland Hydrogen Hub, had received 20 million dollars of its 925 million dollar ceiling, about 2.2%. Neither figure is current to the 2026 review, and no source states how much of either ceiling had been paid out by then. The January 2025 numbers still show that the money actually released was a small fraction of the full funding ceiling for both hubs, under 3% in each case, the concrete meaning behind Wright own phrase, funding in phases, that a press release alone does not supply.
Both figures are from January 2025, more than a year before the 2026 review this article covers. No source states either hub own balance as of 2026.
Show the numbers
| MACH2 | 18.8 million released of 750 million dollars |
| Heartland Hydrogen Hub | 20 million released of 925 million dollars |
Some hydrogen projects moved ahead without waiting on federal money
Since April 2026, some hydrogen projects have gone forward using private money instead of waiting on the federal government, the trade publication reports. Stefani Pashman, Chief Executive Officer of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a regional economic development group, said hydrogen production reaches well beyond building the hubs themselves.
Production of hydrogen has enormous upstream and downstream opportunities.
Stefani Pashman, Chief Executive Officer of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a regional economic development group. Source 1.