Companies reliant upon the use of rail services and commercial harbor craft at California's ports should be interested in the State's:
- Increasing focus on utilizing zero emission technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from port-related operations; and
- Provision of $6.6 million in available grants to "fund the design, integration, and demonstration of hydrogen fuel cell systems and hydrogen fueling infrastructure for locomotive and commercial harbor craft" operations
On July 31, 2020 (10:30-12:30 PDT), the California Energy Commission will be hosting a workshop to assist applicants in obtaining these funds.
Due to COVID-19, the Workshop is available on-line only at:
Meeting ID: 947 9266 2867
Meeting Password: 357152
Topic: GFO-20-604 Pre-Bid Workshop
At this workshop, attendees will be advised on what is necessary to meet an October 8, 2020 deadline to submit their applications and to receive funding.
It is crucial to submit applications early (and comprehensively) for several reasons, including:
- The State will need to determine if the applicant's project triggers State environmental impact assessment procedures under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and
- All CEQA assessment procedures must be completed so that monies can be distributed no later than June 30, 2021.
As background, the State is limited in reducing emissions from ships due to their regulation under international and U.S. federal law. However, the State has authority over, and is therefore focused on, reducing diesel emissions from approximately 750 intrastate locomotives and 3,700 commercial harbor craft servicing the State's 12 deep water ports.
Grant funding will be awarded to projects that "seek to advance technologies that can enable ports as high throughput clusters for low-cost and low-carbon hydrogen and achieve scaled demand across multiple applications."
Originally published 28 July 2020.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.