According to new analysis released by the Rhodium Group on September 27, 2023, although there is ample policy support for clean hydrogen production under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the U.S. will not be able to increase clean hydrogen production without a robust and effect workforce.[1] The Rhodium Group emphasized that occupational training programs will be imperative for deploying hydrogen technologies. According to Rhodium Group, building a commercial-scale 100 MW electrolytic hydrogen facility results in an annual average of 330 plant investment jobs and 45 ongoing jobs. 150 of the development jobs are associated with the construction, engineering, equipment, and materials to build the facility, and 190 come from the supply chain requirements. The 45 ongoing jobs are associated with operations and maintenance.

Retrofitting a traditional hydrogen facility with carbon capture also requires a robust workforce. These projects will need an annual average of 520 plant investment jobs and 80 ongoing jobs. 220 of the project development jobs are associated with the construction and engineering of a retrofit project, while the remaining 300 jobs are associated with materials and equipment used in the project via the supply chain. Rhodium Group estimates that the 80 ongoing jobs over the lifetime of the facility will operate and maintain the carbon capture equipment. These estimates do not include the ongoing jobs for the hydrogen production facility prior to the installation of carbon capture. Carbon capture retrofits will happen where there are existing SMR facilities, so the research firm expects most of this workforce opportunity to be in the Gulf Coast, Midwest, and California. The analysis estimates that, in total, over 16,000 annual average plant investment jobs and 2,560 ongoing jobs across the industry will be needed for carbon retrofits by 2035.

[1] https://rhg.com/research/clean-hydrogen-workforce-development/