Higher Education Consortium to Provide Workforce Training for New, U.S. Multi-Million-Dollar, Regional, Clean Energy Initiative
(Delaware and Chester Counties, PA - October 13, 2023)—President Joe Biden announced today that up to $750 million will be awarded to the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2)—a new three-state, multi-partner organization involving the Collegiate Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development (CCWED), chaired by Delaware County Community College President Marta Yera Cronin, Ed.D.
CCWED will help provide the apprenticeships, workforce training and short-term certificate credentials for the multifaceted MACH2, which is expected to create more than 13,000 jobs in the Greater Philadelphia and Mid-Atlantic region.
MACH2 involves a network of hydrogen producers, consumers and local connective infrastructure in Delaware, Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. Funded by $7 billion from the bipartisan U.S. Infrastructure Law, MACH2 is one of seven U.S. Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, announced today when President Biden visited Philadelphia, designed to help move America toward using more renewable, clean energy.
“With nearly three decades of experience in workforce training in close collaboration with business and industry in the region, CCWED looks forward to providing the skilled workers needed for the MACH2 initiative,” said President Cronin.
CCWED consists of the community colleges in Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Camden County College in New Jersey. Created in 1994 to help retrain the hundreds of workers laid off when the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard closed, CCWED has since grown and become an important partner to business and industry throughout the region.
MACH2 is expected to result in a substantial investment in research and workforce development in partnership with area higher education institutions and organizations including CCWED, local labor unions, University of Delaware, Delaware State University, University of Pennsylvania, Cheyney University, Rowan University, Philadelphia Works, Workforce Development Boards, the Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance, SEPTA, Philadelphia Gas Works and many other partners.
“The strength of our application speaks to the assets our region has to offer—a robust workforce and union labor, access to world-class academic and research institutions, a robust innovation ecosystem, and strong and continued engagement with communities,” said MACH2 Chief Executive Officer Marty Wade. “MACH2 will only serve to further position our region as a national leader in the clean energy economy.”
According to the Biden administration, the bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $65 billion in clean energy investments through the U.S. Department of Energy including $8 billion for a Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program to support the development of hubs for clean hydrogen production, delivery and end-use. Hydrogen can be produced from diverse domestic resources like solar energy, wind, nuclear energy, biomass and natural gas with safe and responsible carbon capture, with the potential for near-zero greenhouse gas emissions from production. Seven billion dollars of this program is going toward the development of the regional clean hydrogen hubs that will catalyze multistate hydrogen ecosystems that ultimately will expand and connect to form a national hydrogen economy. Up to $1 billion of the remaining funding will be used for demand-side support for the hubs to drive innovative end-uses of clean hydrogen.
The Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 25 million metric tons each year, the equivalent of 5.5 million gas-powered cars, according to the White House. The projects will contribute about one-third of the nation’s clean hydrogen goal. The Biden administration projects the seven hubs will create thousands of jobs and generate more than $40 billion in additional private investment.
For more information about MACH2, visit: mach-2.com. To learn more about CCWED, visit: collegiateconsortium.org.
