Hydrogen is very much in use today, to refine petroleum and in the manufacture of commodities such as steel, food, ammonia, fertilizers, plastics and solvents. As an energy carrier it could help generate electricity, power vehicles and heat homes.

"Radical changes will occur in the energy business, driven by technological innovation," said Shalom Zelingher, NYPA's chief technology development officer. "Using hydropower to produce hydrogen will facilitate the transition to a hydrogen economy, and discovery of a future potential for this new technology in ways we may not have previously considered."

The hydropower-to-hydrogen project will result in a greater understanding of the technology, a public better educated about hydrogen as a clean, renewable fuel, and greater economic value and job creation.

Suggesting that hydrogen is merely a futuristic tool of a still-distant economy could be misleading. Many companies and laboratories are actively developing clean, energy-efficient and cost-effective ways to produce and store hydrogen. That is one of the central goals of the New York State Hydrogen Energy Roadmap, a broad strategy developed by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), in partnership with NYPA and the Long Island Power Authority. The "roadmap" is intended to coordinate long-term private and public efforts to develop a hydrogen economy, and to attract federal funding for research, development and demonstration projects in the Empire State.

The Power Authority, partnering with state and national technology leaders, is studying the technical and commercial feasibility of constructing a hydropower to hydrogen production, storage and fueling facility in the Buffalo-Niagara region, to service anticipated fleets of hydrogen-driven conventional and fuel cell-powered vehicles.

The most common method for producing hydrogen today is to separate it from natural gas by using heat from steam. This method, while producing hydrogen, also produces carbon dioxide and other emissions. The Power Authority, steward of New York State's major hydropower generating projects, favors using some of its own low-cost hydropower to drive the process of electrolysis, which separates the major elements of water (hydrogen and oxygen) with an electric charge. The process has clear environmental advantages because it uses clean hydropower to produce hydrogen fuel without generating harmful emissions.

Fully as important, and a key element of the New York State roadmap strategy, is to develop hydrogen to ease the nation's dependence on offshore energy resources.

NYPA's proposed hydropower to hydrogen facility, undergoing feasibility, engineering design and cost assessment analysis in partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute, would take advantage of hydroelectric power generated by NYPA in Western New York. Initial studies indicate the hydrogen produced could fuel a fleet of light- and heavy-duty vehicles and stationary fuel cells at a price competitive with gasoline. The intent is to refine and standardize the design and engineering of the facility to serve as a model for similar centers to be replicated elsewhere within New York State and possibly beyond. The feasibility study will be completed by midyear, Zelingher said.