When new economic development director Chris Sadayasu first heard Hawaii had made it to the second round of a competition to land federal Department of Energy grants totaling $7 billion to build hydrogen fuel production facilities across the U.S., Sadayasu said he was thrilled.

“We have the opportunity to make a huge difference throughout the world,” he said. “It makes total sense for us to go full guns forward on this.”

Now comes the hard part. Hawaii is one of 32 locales to make the first cut out of an initial pool of 79. Sadayasu’s agency, the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, is leading a consortium of nearly two dozen companies and institutions that are crafting a final proposal due in April.

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