Hydrogen fuel cell technology has been widely touted as the most likely energy source to replace petroleum in cars and power plants. But while the technology is available to begin converting from a petroleum-based economy to a hydrogen-based economy, it isn’t widely available.

The SC Next Energy Initiative is looking to change that, and in the process make South Carolina to hydrogen what Texas is to petroleum. Next Energy is an affiliation of leaders from the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, the city of Columbia, EngenuitySC and the Midlands Business Leadership Group. Their goal is to develop a 20-year strategic plan to capitalize on what they consider to be the biggest economic development opportunity of the century.

“What’s really exciting is that South Carolina probably already has 80 percent of the assets which are required to be successful in this,” said Neil McLean of the SC Next Energy Initiative. “The infrastructure is here for the first piece of the project.”

One piece of that project is in the area of research. USC houses the nation’s only fuel cell research center that is funded by the National Science Foundation. The center fosters collaborative research among its industrial partners, who contribute nearly half a million dollars annually to the fuel cell research center.

Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research is collaborating with BMW to develop hydrogen cell technology.

Another piece of the puzzle is the Savannah River Site. State leaders think the work that has been going on there will help South Carolina take a lead in the hydrogen economy.

“The Savannah River Site has been working on hydrogen storage for 50 years,” McLean said.

“Distribution and hydrogen storage are critical problems, which need to be solved for the hydrogen based economy, and they’ve been working on it for 50 years.”

McLean said Next Energy’s 20 year strategic plan will have four phases.

    * Phase One - Mobilize: Identify, inform and engage key stakeholders so they will participate in the strategy process.
    * Phase Two - Analyze: Conduct objective analysis to identify markets, assets and requirements for building a regional next-energy economy.
    * Phase Three - Catalyze: Manage a collaborative processs to generate and define challenges and actions that will enable the vision and define the key elements of an ongoing Next Energy strategy.
    * Phase Four - Realize: Integrate outputs of the collabborative sessions into a “living” implementation process that will sustain and advance the Next Energy strategy.

The first phase is already under way with a series of meetings scheduled around the state to involve businesses and industries that have an interest in hydrogen fuel technology. McLean said while researchers are already involved in solving infrastructure problems, it will take entrepreneurs willing to invest now for a long-term payoff to put South Carolina in the lead.

“It’s been a bit more of a challenge to get the private sector involved in this,” McLean said. “We’re working on all of the potential stake-holders, but for some of them, the payoff being 10 years out makes it more difficult to get people interested.”

One company that isn’t waiting for an infrastructure to be developed is BMW. The company has already built a prototype, and anticipates introducing a hydrogen powered 760i series sedan by 2010.

McLean said with all of the research already going on in South Carolina, entrepreneurs in the state should begin planning now to take advantage of something that is definitely going to happen - the replacement of petroleum by hydrogen to fuel America.

“It’s projected to be a 3 trillion dollar industry in the next 20 years,” McLean said. “Let’s focus our efforts on those areas where we already know we have an edge.”