{"id":131026,"date":"2022-09-07T12:45:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=131026"},"modified":"2025-06-20T09:34:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T13:34:39","slug":"ucf-mitsubishi-power-elevate-partnership-in-national-push-for-hydrogen-based-clean-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-mitsubishi-power-elevate-partnership-in-national-push-for-hydrogen-based-clean-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF, Mitsubishi Power Elevate Partnership in National Push for Hydrogen-Based Clean Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The presidents of the University of Central Florida and Mitsubishi Power will meet Sept. 8 on UCF\u2019s main campus in Orlando, alongside representatives from government, industry, and academia, to address the role of hydrogen in the nation\u2019s push to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and elevate a longstanding partnership between the two organizations.<\/p>\n

In the forum,\u00a0Hydrogen: The Time is Now, UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright and Mitsubishi Power Americas President and CEO Bill Newsom will discuss collaborative opportunities to achieve net zero by 2050. Keynote speaker Jennifer Wilcox, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Fuels and Carbon Management\u00a0principal deputy assistant secretary, will address the government\u2019s role and recent legislative progress. Panels of experts will discuss the challenges and opportunities in creating a national hydrogen economy.<\/p>\n

The forum comes at a critical time, as nations worldwide seek clean-energy solutions. Scientists and engineers are turning to the most abundant element, hydrogen, as a clean energy source that could produce enough energy to serve growing populations while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to \u201cnet zero\u201d by 2050.<\/p>\n

The power generation industry\u2019s transition to hydrogen, which involves large-scale production, storage and distribution, \u00a0is a complex challenge. Creating a hydrogen-based energy economy, according to Cartwright and Newsom, will require high-level collaborations and investments among academia, industry and government.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCF offers partnership opportunities through our multiple research centers that leverage faculty expertise in a variety of relevant areas \u2014 such as power generation and storage, combustion, modeling and simulation, energy grid technology, sustainability, aerospace and environmental engineering, and more,\u201d Cartwright says. \u201cUCF \u2014 among the nation\u2019s largest producers of engineers and computer scientists \u2014 in partnership with Mitsubishi Power and others can play a key role in educating and training the talent pipeline required for a hydrogen-based energy economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitsubishi Power, a global leader in power generation, has made major investments in recent years to create the infrastructure required to produce and store hydrogen, and transition existing power plants to clean hydrogen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have set an ambitious goal to reach net zero across all MHI Group companies by 2040,\u201d Newsom says. \u201cIn order to help meet this goal we are elevating our partnership with the University of Central Florida \u2014 a proven research powerhouse in the energy sector. Through this partnership, we will focus on innovation, research, and education to advance the energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n