I'm pretty cynical by nature, but I don't think that's what's at play here. The IRA's hydrogen production subsidies explicitly don't apply to hydrogen produced from fossil fuels; it has to be from zero-carbon production chains. Moreover, the IRA has upended the economics of the hydrogen market - with the subsidies, electrolyzed hydrogen is now cheaper than methane-derived hydrogen. [1]
There's also significant subsidies for hydrogen storage technologies, hydrogen vehicles, and hydrogen fueling stations.
Personally I'd take this at face value: the point is that hydrogen has the potential to decarbonize a lot of industrial & transportation uses of fossil fuels, and so it's attempting to build up the necessary technology and infrastructure to make this practical. There are always side effects when you throw massive amounts of money at a problem, so I'd expect some boondoggles, but at least the intent of the law isn't a boondoggle.
There's also significant subsidies for hydrogen storage technologies, hydrogen vehicles, and hydrogen fueling stations.
Personally I'd take this at face value: the point is that hydrogen has the potential to decarbonize a lot of industrial & transportation uses of fossil fuels, and so it's attempting to build up the necessary technology and infrastructure to make this practical. There are always side effects when you throw massive amounts of money at a problem, so I'd expect some boondoggles, but at least the intent of the law isn't a boondoggle.
[1] https://www.utilitydive.com/news/the-ira-will-accelerate-ele...