HEADLINE: “Influential leader of US Department of Energy’s hydrogen division resigns after almost 15 years in post”, By LEIGH COLLINS
“ Satyapal says her Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technologies Office helped enable a national hydrogen strategy, thousands of projects and billions of dollars in H2 investment.”
HEADLINE: “Influential leader of US Department of Energy’s hydrogen division resigns after almost 15 years in post”
Sunita Satyapal says her Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technologies Office helped enable a national hydrogen strategy, thousands of projects and billions of dollars in H2 investment
Editor, Hydrogen Insight
Published 23 April 2025, 08:18
The well-respected and highly influential leader of the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) hydrogen division has announced her resignation after almost 15 years in the post.
Sunita Satyapal said it was “one of the hardest decisions I have ever made”, but that she has accepted the Trump administration’s offer — made to many government employees in order to drastically reduce the federal workforce — to resign while receiving “paid administrative leave” for many months to come.
Satyapal spent nearly 22 years at the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) in total, being chief engineer, storage team leader and technology manager, before her appointment as director back in August 2010.
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The HTFO received about $470m a year from the federal government, but is likely to be reduced in size or perhaps scrapped as the Trump administration seeks to drastically cut government spending, especially in those areas that Trump has antipathy towards — which includes the Biden-era subsidies for clean hydrogen.
“[I am]… especially proud of my HTFO family that I helped build and its incredibly talented, dedicated, and hard-working staff — over 1,089 US issued patents since 2004 due to HFTO funding, 30 commercial technologies, and 65 that could be commercial in a few years,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing her resignation.
“Together with many of you, we enabled a national hydrogen strategy, thousands of projects, including the H2 hubs, catalyzed billions in investment and represented the US on the global stage through partnerships with over 30 countries.”
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She also said that being a part of the HTFO “has truly been an honor of a lifetime”.
“I will be leaving DOE and US federal service. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made but I would like to support the incredible federal workers who are early/midway through their careers to have more of an opportunity to stay and continue the important work.
“Over 2 decades ago, I took a big pay cut and had to sell my stock options to come to the government from the private sector because I believed deeply in the mission and in public service and in supporting you in the hydrogen and fuel cell community as much as I could.”
Satyapal’s LinkedIn post has been met with hundreds of comments of support and praise.
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For instance, Hydrogen Council CEO Ivana Jemelkova, wrote: “You are an exceptional hydrogen leader and no matter the hat you wear, the industry needs you in action.”
Bart Biebuyck, the long-time leader of the EU’s hydrogen programme, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, who is now CEO of renewable hydrogen developer Green Energy Park, added: “Thank you so much for your enormous contribution to the hydrogen society, your leadership at the global stage will be missed enormously. Your passion, diplomacy and creativity to find solutions on how to take the next step in hydrogen, on how to bring people together were so vital.”
Satyapal said she will on “administrative leave” from 7 May to 31 December.
“I will miss you dearly but know you will carry on the important work, and I will be thinking of you,” she wrote. “May the force [of the most abundant element in the universe] be with you.”
She also added: “Since I hired many feds who will be losing their jobs, PLEASE post any opportunities for them in comments to this post. I would be forever grateful. Also, I had not planned on retiring so early and not sure yet what I will be doing so if you have any ideas, feel free to let me know!”
Another leach gone
The Earth shrugged.