Hydrogen-fuelled power makers GeoPura have secured £36 million in growth funds from heavyweight investors including Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and the venture capital arm of car giant General Motors.
Launched in 2019, GeoPura seeks to strip carbon from sectors most reliant on diesel to make on-site power, such as construction, infrastructure and outdoor events.
Its mobile, green hydrogen-fuelled generators have made on-site electricity for the National Grid, contractors Balfour Beatty and the BBC, among others. They provided temporary EV charging at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Developed in partnership with über-engineers Siemens Energy, GeoPura’s HPU device is built around industrial hydrogen cells. A standard unit provides 250kW output, 80kW thermal power and 216kWh battery storage, equal to the needs of 80 homes. High-speed EV charging is among possible configurations.
A typical diesel generator rated at 250kVA would emit 960g of CO2 per kWh, as well 327.5g of CO per hour of operation, the firm claims. In contrast, and with water as its only emission, GeoPura says its hydrogen power unit is far quieter than a diesel burner.
At home in Nottingham and from a second plant in Newcastle, the £36m investment will enable the engineers to step up HPU output alongside partner Siemens Energy. GeoPura plans to deploy at least 3,600 more over the next ten years. More than six million tonnes of emitted CO2 will be avoided over their working life, the firm calculates.
CEO Andrew Cunningham observed: “Green hydrogen is too often seen as a technology that will happen in the future. GeoPura and our partners are delivering a commercially viable technology today.
“This investment allows us to build on our installed base of HPUs and hydrogen production infrastructure to stimulate the green hydrogen economy, and then expand the use of clean fuels into other hard-to-decarbonise areas of our energy system.
Cunningham concluded: “The world can’t afford to wait a decade for green fuels to scale – we must act now”.
