Dr. Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Idaho National Laboratory

We were excited to host Dr. Shannon Bragg-Sitton to dive into the world of hydrogen production and integrated energy systems. Shannon serves as the Director of the Integrated Energy & Storage Systems Division at the Idaho National Laboratory. Her division is on the cutting edge of what our future energy systems could look like and conducts important research and development activities to make sure that future is achievable. As a nuclear engineer by training as well as a former NASA employee and College Professor, Shannon brings a unique and wide-ranging breadth of experience to her role. We were excited to explore the challenges and opportunities of integrating new technologies and energy sources into our economy.

Our conversation with Shannon begins with hydrogen, including what the technologies will look like that might play a role in providing affordable new sources of zero emissions fuels and how Idaho National Laboratory and the DOE are working to support deployment of those technologies. We then turn to the government's focus on hydrogen hubs and their transformational role in the discussion around future hydrogen production. We explore the economics around hydrogen and the key for near and long-term successes in adoption of more hydrogen as well as what those successes might look like. We also discuss what aspects of our economy could benefit from integrating these new resources most before closing out with a discussion on where the future of integrated energy systems goes beyond hydrogen. For further information, the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap plan is linked here.

We greatly enjoyed chatting with Shannon about hydrogen (with a bit of nuclear energy interwoven throughout) and look forward to hearing more about her division’s successes in the future.