Consultant  engineers Ricardo said the Register had given outline approval for the design of its cutting-edge multi-megawatt power plant based on fuel cells.

Lloyds is the leading provider of classification and compliance services to the marine and offshore industries.

Ricardo has developed the hydrogen fuel cells in its role as lead partner on the Europe-wide Sustainable Hydrogen Powered Shipping (sHYpS) project, to which the company contributes its world-leading expertise in the hydrogen value chain.

The sHYpS trial seeks to bring to market a ~500kW net, 375kW gross power fuel cell module, referred to as the RFC500.  Included too is the design of a 40-foot containerised multi-megawatt power plant, capable of combining power from several fuel cell modules.

Lloyd’s provisional blessing for the technology signals the Register’s confidence that it has the potential to satisfy regulatory requirements, and can be used more widely to support decarbonisation across of the wider maritime industry.

Overwhelmingly diesel-burning, maritime shipping is estimated to account for XXX% of manmade climate heating.

The International Maritime Organisation calculated last year that international shipping is responsible for 2.8% of all global GHG emissions.  Though small, increasing seaborne trade around the globe is pushing that share upwards.  Without further action, CO2 emissions from marine freighting are projected to increase from about 90 per cent of 2008 emissions in 2018 to 90–130 per cent of 2008 emissions by 2050, the IMO says.

At its new, purpose-built technical centre at Shoreham on the Sussex coast, Ricardo is now assembling its marine containerisation system. The start of testing its RFC500 module forms a critical element.

Jason Oms O’Donnell, managing director of automotive & industrial for the innovator, said:

“This step represents a significant achievement in our progress to support our customers in the maritime industry with the technology to enable them to deliver on their decarbonisation strategies.

“AiP offers us an opportunity to progress with a roadmap for full regulatory compliance of our containerised solution. It gives confidence for investment and signals that there are no major obstacles to future certification or classification.”

“We are investing in our hydrogen capabilities, and in particular, we are seeing a lot of interest from customers in the maritime, aerospace, and off-highway sectors for the services that we provide. It’s an exciting time to be involved in supporting sustainable mobility, due to the significant changes that are taking place, based on regulatory and legislative requirements. We are very well placed to support our customers with their future decarbonisation journey.”

Rivals to hydrogen as a replacement for diesel in marine engines include e-methanol.  Container giant AP Moller Maersk in 2021 placed orders for up to 12 new freighter powered by the fuel, synthesised in association with biogenic carbon dioxide.

The post Insurers Lloyds smile on hydrogen to replace freighters’ diesel appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Originally developed by Shell Oil, Stanlow at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire began in 1924 – pictured – as a production site for bitumen, also blending and cleaning imported crude oil. It is now among the UK’s largest and most complex refineries, processing 10 million tonnes of crude each year.

Following its purchase in 2011 by Essar Oil UK, since re-branded as EET Fuels Ltd, Stanlow has received major investment, advancing the owners’ ambitions to make it the world’s first low carbon refinery, and among the globe’s biggest hubs for steam-cleaning fossil fuels into “blue” hydrogen.

EET Fuels, controlled by billionaire brothers Prashant and Ravi Ruia, today announced its non-specific intention for forthcoming events in celebration, including donations to charities community groups. Details will be released in coming weeks.

EET chairman Prashant Ruia commented: “For a century, Stanlow has kept Britain moving.

“We are immensely proud of the refinery’s heritage and its unwavering commitment to supplying high-quality products and fuels safely and reliably. We want to recognise the thousands of colleagues who made this happen.

“The Stanlow story is only just beginning. The massive transition strategy we are implementing, with the ambition of making Stanlow the world’s first low carbon refinery, as well as the UK’s leading producer of hydrogen as part of the HyNet consortium, is set to re-position Stanlow and the North West of England for the next 100 years and beyond.”

Manufacturing has taken place at Stanlow since 1924, first of bitumen and specialist solvents. Aviation spirit was added to the output during World War 2.

Recognising the importance of refineries closer to customer markets, Shell in 1949 began a three-year build programme to create a fully-fledged crude oil refinery.

Essar Group acquired Stanlow in 2011, and has since invested a claimed $1 billion on improvements.

Now employing more than 700 people directly and the same total again in its local supply chain, Stanlow remains a prominent supplier to the North West’s major fuel retailers, to Manchester Airport and leading commercial airlines, and to  the region’s trains and buses.

Through HyNet and other initiatives, EET Fuels is investing $1.2 billion over the next five years to decarbonise its operations. It aims for a 95% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 through energy efficiency, carbon capture and fuel switching.  If achieved, that figure will deliver a 12.5% reduction the North West’s overall carbon emissions.

In February 2023, Essar announced a new entity Essar Energy Transition (EET) would position Stanlow as a leading hub for energy transition in the North West.  EET plans to invest US$3 billion in developing a range of low carbon energy transition projects across the site before 2029.

They include state-of-the-art ventures in industrial Carbon Capture and Hydrogen Fuel Switching, to be achieved this decade.

The Stanlow site is also home to EET Hydrogen, founded in 2022 under the name Vertex Hydrogen. EET bills the offshoot as the UK’s leading hydrogen production project. It is developing 1GW of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with follow-on capacity set to reach 3.8 GW.

More on Stanlow’s centenary here.

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Hydrogen was used to refuel and power baggage tractors servicing easyJet passenger aircraft. Conducted as part of the airline’s daily operations, the trial demonstrates that the gas can be safely and reliably used to refuel ground equipment in a busy, live airport environment.

The trial, dubbed Project Acorn, was in development for over a year and involved many other leading organisations from across aviation, engineering, logistics and academia. Partners in Acorn include Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Cranfield University, Connected Places Catapult and DHL Supply Chain.

The group intends the trial as a pilot to develop industry best practice, provide guidance to airports, & airlines, local authorities and regulators on required infrastructure changes.   Establishing a regulatory framework for hydrogen’s use on an airfield is another intended benefit; hydrogen’s nascent status in aviation means this does not exist at present.

Data and insights gathered will also feed into research now conducted by industry body Hydrogen in Aviation (HIA).  Acorn also supports the ambitions of bodies such as Hydrogen South West (HSW) and the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative (HII). The latter co-funded the year-long study.

EasyJet’s chief operating officer David Morgan observed:  “Without doubt, hydrogen will be an important fuel of the future for short-haul aviation.

“While the technology is advancing at an exciting pace, as hydrogen isn’t used in commercial aviation today, there is currently no regulatory guidance in place on how it can and should be used.

“Trials like this are very important in building the safety case and providing critical data to inform the development of the industry’s first regulatory framework. This will ensure regulation not only keeps pace with innovation, but importantly also supports the industry in meeting its decarbonisation targets by 2050.”

Tim Johnson, director for strategy for airport regulator the Civil Aviation Authority, commented: “Projects such as Acorn are cornerstones of our commitment to support innovation and decarbonisation in the industry.

“This trial will serve as the basis of a White Paper which we will also be contributing to, as well as allow for the creation of further safety guidance and regulatory standards for the use of hydrogen in aviation.

For the government, aviation minister Anthony Browne declared: “Project Acorn is a great example of the UK aviation sector pushing the boundaries of what’s possible – using leading engineering to make decarbonisation a reality from the ground operation to the planes themselves.

“They are crucial to achieving our target, set out in the Jet Zero Strategy of zero emission airport operations by 2040.”

The post Bristol’s hydrogen trial powers airport baggage trucks; planes next? appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Recharge UK, the e-mobility arm of the REA (Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology), says that mandating accessibility requirements for public electric vehicle chargepoints will ensure wheelchair users always have equal access to charge their vehicle.

PAS 1899:2022 is the standard introduced last year, intended to ensure that charging an electric vehicle (EV) is accessible for all users, including disabled people. It gives designers, procurers, and installers essential specifications on how to provide accessible public charge points for electric vehicles.

Adoption of the PAS 1899:2022 standard is voluntary only, though. Some leading charge point operators (CPOs) have taken the initiative, assessing new sites and installations to ensure they comply, and initiating retrofits and additional work, where they do not.

But Recharge UK insists motorists with disabilities including mobility problems will miss out, unless PAS 1899 is mandated by the government.

“Electric vehicles are for everyone” said Matthew Adams, the campaign group’s transport policy manager.

“However, currently what we see is some charging infrastructure that is not built with wheelchair users and those with accessibility requirements in mind, in many cases”.

The absence of a universal mandate favouring accessibility of charging could put off wheelchair users from purchasing an EV, Adams argues, as well as deterring disabled people with other accessibility requirements.

“Recharge UK believes electric vehicles are for everyone and that we should seize the opportunity to design accessible infrastructure from the ground up, “ Adams went on.

The group is calling for government to mandate that all public charging sites, where feasible, have accessible charging mandated.

Considerations needing to be incorporated into a universal mandate including physical factors such as kerb height or ground type close to chargepoints, and points’ placement, labelling and spacing within the public realm; the information, signals and indicators to be provided to users; as well as cables and cable management systems, bollard spacing, colours used on screens, weight and force and ease of use of the equipment).

Fellow campaign groups ChargeSafe and FairCharge back Recharge UK’s stance.

ChargeSafe’s CEO & co-founder Kate Tyrrell commented:  “The challenge for 16 million disabled people in the UK to adopt electric vehicles is exacerbated by inadequate consideration from key stakeholders regarding space, inclusive design and safety at charging sites.

“While the BSI PAS 1899:2022 norm serves as a recommendation, the absence of consequences has led to inaccessible chargepoints violating the 2010 Disability Act”. Tyrell said

 FairCharge’s founder Quentin Willson added:  “We want to see a national infrastructure that’s available and inclusive to all. We have a moral duty to make sure all drivers, including disabled (both hidden and visible), have easy access to chargers wherever they are. Because that’s the fairest way.”

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Only 18,000 on-street or publicly accessible chargepoints for EV drivers are currently registered, analysis this month has found.

Today e-mobility campaigners Zemo Partnership, motoring journalist Quentin Willson’s FairCharge activists & the Climate Group have bonded with the Renewable Energy Association, making clear to minister Norman steps on how he can rescue the government’s faltering roll-out of chargepoints.

The bodies’ joint letter to minister Norman came on the day that the House of Lord’s Climate Change committee announced an inquiry into the growth of electric vehicles.  Public responses are invited before Friday 15 September.

EV re-sales now account for 5.7% of the UK market for used cars, figures from industry trackers the SMMT disclose today for 2023’s second quarter.   “Pure” battery-only pre-loved cars account on their own for 1.7% of used car trades, the 30,600 units changing hands in the three months to June rising by nearly 82% year on year.

Actions urged on decarbonisation minister Norman & on transport secretary Mark Harper in the campaigners’ Recharge UK report ‘Charging Forward to 2030’ include:

• Introducing a right to charge: Tenants in residential blocks should be protected by government from the high upfront cost of grid connections & installing chargepoints
• Give councils a duty to speed chargepoint connections, via an obligation to plan for EV infrastructure. That new requirement would also help power transmission operators to plan new grid capacity.
• Prioritise chargepoints in grid planning: With road freight & “blue-light” services increasingly needing chargepoints, planners should consider them as ‘nationally significant infrastructure’, ensuring TSOs push them up the pecking order for grid hook-ups
• Introduce a van charging standard to enable tradespeople to top up as easily as private car drivers
• Mandate more public chargepoints in car parks by specifying more cabling & connections in Whitehall’s continuing Future of Transport Regulatory Review

““By adopting this report’s recommendations in, the government can achieve 300,000 chargepoints by 2030, creating new jobs and driving economic growth“, REA chief executive Dr Nina Skorupska CBE tells in the campaigners’ joint letter.

“Reinvigorate the charge to Net Zero transport will help end criticism of the capability of charging infrastructure to meet future demand. It will also directly address the geographic inequalities of charging infrastructure that are reported today.

FairCharge’s founder Quentin Willson, pictured, tells minister Norman:

“It’s essential we have political leadership in resolving to create a charging infrastructure that both reassures consumers and generates UK growth, investment and jobs.

“2023 has seen the largest number of charging connections ever and charge point operators have pledged a further £6 billion by 2030. The UK is in a global race to secure EV and charging investment, but we risk becoming last if we don’t have enough connections to support the many billions being spent by the likes of Tata, JLR, Ford, BMW and Stellantis.

A word-class charging infrastructure will keep our UK car industry globally competitive. Building it as fast as we can is critical.”

Read the Charging Forward to 2030 report here.

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Bulk storage provider Navigator Terminals and developer Alfanar have agreed terms to progress the facility, based around the North Tees rail terminal on the port’s dockside.

It will handle up to one million tonnes per year of end-of-life waste, feedstock used at Alfanar’s plant at nearby Port Clarence.

The plant is earmarked to make over 125,000 tonnes of SAF each year, or more than 165 million litres.    Construction is scheduled to begin next year. Today’s deal pledges the two innovators to a joint front-end-engineering and design study, the first step towards construction.

Alfanar’s formulation for its Lighthouse Green Fuels has the potential, the parties claim, to reduce carbon emissions by as much as 80% against conventional jet fuel. Technologies fi gasification using the Fischer Tropsch (FT) method will create a synthesised gas from non-recyclable waste, followed by condensing into the liquid fuel.

The government’s Jet Zero strategy envisages Britain’s commercial aviation reaching Net Zero by 2050. SAF is seen as a versatile ‘drop-in fuel’, easily blended into conventional fossil-based aviation fuel, reaching existing aircraft without modifications and pumping infrastructure.

In planemakers’ developing competition between low carbon hydrogen and batteries, some experts view SAF reclaimed from end-of-life plastics as the best alternative to kerosene for long-haul flights.

Under terms of the agreement Navigator will develop the North Tees rail terminal for the storage and handling of feedstocks for Alfanar’s waste-to-SAF plant. Navigator will also construct handling terminal on its North Tees dockside.

Navigator Terminals’ existing North Tees complex stores road fuels and crude oils at the north east’s only deep-water jetty designed for petrochemicals. Direct pipelines link to the North Sea and rail distribution facilities. Finished SAF will be exported via ship from the North Tees docks or by rail or truck from Navigator’s inland North Tees terminal.

“Navigator Terminals is committed to playing a leading role in delivering Net Zero for the UK”, CEO Jason Hornsby said.

“It is exciting to bring forward plans for the UKs first Sustainable Aviation Fuel handling terminal on our North Tees dockside to rejuvenate this industrial land and push UK aviation that bit closer to Net Zero every time we fly.”

Alfanar’s chief investment officer Mishal Almutlaq responded:  “We are delighted to form a partnership with Navigator Terminals.

“We kicked off the FEED study for our Lighthouse Green Fuels project in June 2022 and we are now looking to start engineering works associated with the build out the regional infrastructure on Teesside”

SAF remains in early stages of development. Some observers believe more progress is needed if it is to achieve the energy storage densities required by conventional jets for long-haul flights.

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New AutoMotive’s Electric Car Count claims to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive electric car sales data in the UK.

MG and Kia, both with just under 7.5% market share, took 4th and 5th places, just outside Britain’s German-dominated EV podium.

EVs took 1% more of Britain’s total new car deliveries in January, New Automotive’s researchers discovered by polling manufacturers.

Competitiveness in the top end of UK EV supply should encourage all manufacturers, the consultants believe. The race to dominate the EV segment of Britain’s car market is still wide open, they say, and brands who can electrify their ranges at pace will be rewarded.

New AutoMotive’s boss Ben Nelmes observed: “Following a month of negative headlines for the UK’s EV transition, we were pleasantly surprised to see sales of electric cars continue to grow. The data show that UK motorists are perfectly happy to embrace cleaner, cheaper, better transport.”

“This month’s collapse of (battery maker) Britishvolt is regrettable, but there is a bright future for British battery manufacturing. Ministers have a role to play, and must make sure the UK is as attractive as possible to site battery manufacturing.

“The UK needs a green industrial strategy“, Nelmes urged, “if we are to attract the jobs, investment and growth that the global transition to electric vehicles offers.”

“A good first step would be to end the delay to the long-overdue ZEV Mandate. This scheme is vital to attracting investment and creating clean, green and future-proofed British jobs.”

Peterborough again topped the UK’s regional hotspots in January, with EVs taking 56% of new vehicles registered.  Oxford, Bristol, Newcastle and Wimbledon followed on, with EV shares of 50%, 34%, 30%, and 22% respectively among all new registrations.  Further regional splits can be had here.

Unusually for a month in which it made deliveries, Tesla did not dominate the UK table. Elon Musk’s marque sold only 530 units in January, a market share of just under 4%.  New Automotive speculate the company’s deliveries in the month were delayed fulfilment of deliveries scheduled for the month before.

Among traditional volume producers, German automakers appear to be electrifying their ranges quicker, and with most immediate sales success. 22% of BMW’s sales in January and 20% of Audi sales were electric vehicles, with both companies selling well over 1,000 EV units.

Selling less than 100 cars, Hyundai’s top end manufacturer Genesis had 91% of its sales were electric in January.

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A deal with Bechtel, the oil services leviathan, concluded after 2023’s books were closed, points the way.

Velocycs has hired the US firm to scope design & construction of its intended Altalto plant with British Airways on Humberside, part-funded by last year’s £ 27 million grant from the Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuel Fund.

As costings emerge this summer from Bechtel’s calculations, further external funding for Altalto will be sought.  Construction earmarked to begin in two years could see the Immingham factory delivering at scale aviation-grade fuel purged from dead plastics by 2027.

Columbus, Ohio is one north American centre for Velocys’ focus to turn wood chips into low carbon diesel and avgas.

The company last year finished building a reactor core factory there, capable of turning out up to twelve units a year. Each containing four cores, the reactors are the key to Velocys’ – or its licencees’ – conversion of low-value forestry waste into high-value fuels.

The Columbus plant is now being fitted out and staff hired, ready for catalyser production to begin in April, the company told investors this morning.

In Japan, the company continues to provide services to Toyo Engineering Corporation under a licencing deal signed in 2021.

Velocys’ proprietary manufacturing chemistry is based on the Fischer-Tropsch process. This is a catalytic chemical reaction, which turns synthesis gas – carbon monoxide and hydrogen – into liquid hydrocarbons, such as diesel or jet fuel.

Financially, the company is in line with market expectations.  At December’s year end, it had an unaudited cash balance of £13.4 million, down on 2021’s £25.5 million.  Audited figures are due in May.

“Our progress and partnerships reflect the significant achievements made in 2022 and Velocys’ position of strength in a rapidly evolving global market for advanced synthetic fuels technology”, CEO Henrik Wareborn observed.

“We have the here-and-now technology to enable SAF production close to sustainable feedstock sources to decarbonise the aviation industry at scale”.

Continuing government regulatory support, abundant feedstock, carbon capture and sequestration, supply of renewable power, and most of all, a technology that works, gave the firm a  solid platform from which to deliver, Wareborn said.

The post Hello, Columbus: Velocys lifts clean wings towards the Americas appeared first on theenergyst.com.

The Sheffield-based manufacturer is finding it hard to shift from an experimentation phase to generating profits, Schulz told investors today.

He began an operational review last month, on arrival from German industrial gas giant Linde, ITM’s equity partner in hydrogen catalyser innovation.

Lower sales from contracts and higher than anticipated losses would feature in results for the full year to this coming April, Schulz warned.  Interim results will be declared on 31 January.

“This is the challenge I was expecting when I joined ITM” said Schulz. “For us to develop from an R&D and prototyping entity, to a mature delivery organisation, we require firmer foundations”.

Measures included in  the review include rationalising the firm’s products around a core more closely linked to its proprietary proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology.  Capital spending will be pulled back, as the company prepares for manufacturing at scale.

“Our twelve-month plan will make ITM a stronger, more focused and highly capable company”, Schulz sought to assure investors.  “The large-scale opportunities in the market are yet to come, and by putting these foundations in place ITM will be ready for the significant market demand ahead of us.”

Linde holds 16.2% of ITM Power, having built its stake since 2019. Their joint ventures include ITM Linde Electrolysis Ltd.

ITM has been expanding rapidly, while still burning cash. Interim results for the six months to last January showed the firm’s pipeline of electrolysers grew more than fourfold year on year, to 86 MW.

In March, Motive Fuels, ITM’s unit which builds and operates green hydrogen refuelling stations, formed a joint venture with trading behemoth Vitol, designed to scale up of production of green hydrogen sold to transport operators.

Today’s closing price of 91.3 pence on AIM implies a market cap for ITM Power of around £640 million.

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Now that South Hams planners have agreed the project, Carlton seeks to confirm finance en route to starting operations, possibly as early as 2024.

Langage Energy Park, pictured, is designated for inclusion in Plymouth’s  freeport, one of eight or more planned for England, where tax and employment charges will be loosened.

Possible in the EU as well as Britain, freeports’ controversial features include their size; the Plymouth & South Devon port extends as much as 45 kilometres inland.

Eric Adams, hydrogen projects director for Yorkshire-headquartered Carlton said: “Langage is ideally located for the West Country’s first low-carbon hydrogen hub.

“With the need, especially among industrial companies, to move away from fossil fuels and reach Net Zero, Langage Green Hydrogen and our other projects can make an important contribution to the transition to the hydrogen economy.

Exeter-based energy consultancy Regen has identified hydrogen’s importance to the West Country, both in economic development and the region’s transition to Net Zero.

“The significance of (this grant of) planning permission at Langage Energy Park cannot be overstated”,  Regen’s CEO Merlin Hyman observed:

“To have one of the first green hydrogen production plants in the South West is great news for the decarbonisation of the region.”

Repeating its approach to securing electrolysed hydrogen centres in Greater Manchester and Barrow-in-Furness, Carlton has teamed up with Devon’s local enterprise partnership

As with its two sister plants, securing financial support from the government’s Hydrogen Investment Package is also Carlton’s pre-requisite for breaking ground at Langage.   In July D-BEIS published its latest guidelines for HIP applicants. In regard to its Cumbria ambitions, Carlton to apply before December.

Claire Gibson, head of delivery at the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “It is fantastic to see Carlton Power choose Devon as its location for its next hydrogen hub. We are pleased to have supported the project, in line with our aims to drive the region’s clean growth agenda.”

The post Plymouth in frame for Carlton Power’s third green H2 hub appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Under outline terms agreed with partners Hydrogen Utopia International, the Merseyside-based firm will build and run an energy-capture plant in Konin, Wielkopolska, a province in the centre of the country.

The pair believe synergies exist between their technologies, focused to extract low carbon hydrogen from end-of-life plastics and waste material previously deemed beyond recycling.

Today’s announcement to investors provides detail of an emerging relationship which the firms believe can deliver carbon-free hydrogen at scale for industrial and trucking use across Europe.

With grants from the European Commission, the Konin plant aims to convert 1 million tonnes a year of end-of-life waste into hydrogen, providing new jobs for some of the country’s 78,000 coal miners.

Development costs for the new  joint venture will be met equally.  Under the outline terms, Powerhouse will make no entry payments to HUI, but HUI will be allowed to recover at financial close of the project, its costs to date fixed at Euros 250,000, with Euros 250,000 premium.

Both sides intend for each’s committed development costs to be capitalised at financial close and recovered through an appropriate mechanism, yet to be agreed.

PHE’s participation in the new joint venture is subject to further definitive agreement, including over the management and governance of the JVCo.

Last month the partners signed heads of terms to develop a second plant at Lanespark in County Tipperary.

Earlier this month, Powerhouse Energy announced that it was taking a 50% shareholding in Protos Plastics the £170 million dedicated EfW industrial site in Cheshire developed by its landlords Peel PRE.

Powerhouse’s forays overseas build on a strategy re-vamp launched last year by a new management team under CEO Paul Drennan-Durose, pictured.

Commenting on this morning’s clarification, Powerhouse Energy’s interim chair Keith Riley said:

 “This formalises Powerhouse Energy’s position in the Konin project and brings to an end speculation within the market on what our role will be.

“We now have the task of agreeing the detailed documents for all three projects at Protos, Lanespark and Konin, which will conclude PHE’s recently adopted policy of holding at least some level of control of the projects on which it embarks.

“I am well aware that this increases our cash flow, so an important aspect of the project controls we are implementing is careful cash management and expenditure control which we have built into the management forecasts.  HUI has made a fast start in Poland, and announced that it had signed a Letter of Intent with the City of Konin on 3 February 2021.

“Events in Eastern Europe since, however, inevitably mean that this project is likely to fall behind. In consequence, I am confident that the three developments can be phased.”

Market reaction to this morning announcement saw Powerhouse’s shares drop over four per cent by mid morning.

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The firm’s drive to have PEM parts with a cumulative 3GW capacity flowing out of its Royston HQ by early 2024 stems from the firm’s recently declared ambition to dominate the market for the technology’s performance components.  By spring 2025 Johnson Matthey target revenues of £200 million in hydrogen-related technologies.

Support for Royston’s expansion comes from the government’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF).

It forecasts Britain by 2035 will need 14GW of production each year in devices in the hydrogen fuel cell stack, plus 400,000 high pressure tanks to meet local vehicle production.  Five years earlier in 2030, market experts believe as many as three million fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) could on the world’s roads.

Leading edge manufacturing will guide production.  Expansion of the site could follow, potentially tripling output if space in the factory’s decommissioned Clean Air production section is used.

“Decarbonising freight transportation is critical to help societies and industries meet their ambitious net zero emission targets, Johnson Matthey CEO Liam Condon opined

“The fuel cell market has now reached a pivotal moment. Today marks the next step of the journey to a low-carbon future in the UK. We’re delighted to be playing a key role in driving it forward.”

Energy  and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng endorsed the move: “This investment, backed by government, is a major vote of confidence from Johnson Matthey in the UK. Their new facility will not only add to our growing electric vehicle supply chain, but it will also help secure hundreds of highly skilled jobs.

The post Johnson Matthey pump £80 million into Hertfordshire H2 fuel cell factory appeared first on theenergyst.com.

The Belgian-owned operator of crew transfer vessels has taken delivery of the world’s first launch co-powered by hydrogen, as an alternative to marine gas oil.

The 44 turbines of the 370MW Norther Wind farm, 23 kilometres miles off Zeebrugge, are the focus of the summer and winter trial.

The Danish engineer of towers and blades wants its own manufacturing and installation divisions to be carbon neutral before this decade ends.  Vestas is refusing to use workarounds in financial engineering such as offsetting.

Carbon emissions arising from offshore operations currently account for one third of Vestas’ scope 1&2 emissions   The new vessel could save 158 tonnes a year, trimming 37 percent of carbon emissions associated with traditional ships.

The coming trial will offer the engineers the chance to decide the most scalable approaches to employing hydrogen.  Collecting insights into the pros and cons of hydrogen-powered voyages in daily operations will be its goals.

Grey hydrogen, also known as blue hydrogen and steam-reformed from climate-toxic methane, will the feedstock for a vessel yet to be decided, but possibly including the 28 metre Wildcat Mark 101, pictured.

Green hydrogen, electrolysed from water with zero-carbon electricity, is ruled out due to limited availability.

The vessel can switch between conventional and gas-based propulsion.  H2’s green – and cleaner – variant could be incorporated once its supplies become more abundant & cheaper.

“Hard to abate sectors such as shipping will be the final frontier in our global journey towards decarbonisation”, Vestas’ service VP Christian Venderby observed.

“Hydrogen is a crucial technology to advance this journey, which is why Vestas is eager to test its potential to reduce emissions from our service operations”.

For the wind farm, its executive manager Christophe De Schryver added; “The operation of a crew transfer vessel in the North Sea running on hydrogen will create the necessary demand for investments in hydrogen supply.

“Norther is honoured that Vestas is bootstrapping this value chain by operating this CTV at Norther’s offshore wind farm,” he added.

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D-BEIS itemised this morning firms pocketing taxpayer cash as reward for their innovations around the gas, which is increasingly viewed – particularly in its synthesised variants – as a miracle fuel, set to decarbonise at scale industrial processes and heating Britain’s buildings.

A total of 28 projects in all four UK nations receive awards from the second phase of the ministry’s Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 (HySupply 2) competition.

Prominent winners include;

• Sheffield’s ITM Power, awarded £9.2 million to build a next generation 5MW electrolyser stack. Building on their findings from the first Hydrogen Supply programme, ITM are seeking to bring to market their lowest-cost solution for making green hydrogen.
• Cadent Gas, Britain’s biggest pipe operator with 80,000 miles in its network. The Leicestershire firm receives nearly £300,000 to evaluate further how purified hydrogen pumped through the grid can be made suitable for use in lorries and heavy vehicles.
• The National Nuclear Laboratory headquartered in Warrington, will receive £243,000 to devise processes for re-using waste heat from nuke reactors to produce hydrogen.

In its energy security strategy published last month, the Johnson administration committed to extending Britain’s hydrogen-making capacity to 10 GW by 2030.   Ministers predict around 12,000 jobs will result across the UK, as well as increasing domestic energy supply, thereby reducing future imports of expensive, climate-wrecking hydrocarbons.

Energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng lauded his department’s handouts.

“The British Energy Security Strategy made clear that we are backing hydrogen not just as a viable source of clean, affordable homegrown energy but as an emerging industry of the future in which the UK can lead the world”, the minister claimed.

“This funding will accelerate the development of this exciting new industry, helping position us as a hydrogen superpower on the global stage.”

A study commissioned by BEIS in 2018 demonstrated that innovation in processes to makde hydrogen could yield considerable cuts in its price.

Full details from D-BEIS here.

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Paul Drennan-Durose took over as CEO in February, joining from cleantech energy developers Heliex Power.  He was joined by a new non-executive chair Russell Ward, and by experienced energy investor Hugh McAlister.  Ward and his new CEO had worked as colleagues at Heliex.

Powerhouse’s executive chairman had been former energy minister Tim Yeo.  He stepped down with immediate effect in August ‘for personal reasons’.

A choice of construction partners for the firm’s intended manufacturing plant at Protos Park, Cheshire had topped recent discussions with Peel NRE, the firm said in a statement this morning.

Powerhouse’s landlords intend their site, part of the Cheshire Energy Hub, to be Britain’s first ‘plastic park’, a repository and transformation hub for its share of the 4.9 million tonnes of waste plastic which the nation produces each year.

Powerhouse’s business centres around its proprietary Distributed Modular Generation (DMG) technology.   The innovation is claimed to be capable of producing up to two tonnes a day of 99.999% pure, “road-quality” hydrogen from a typical disposal plant’s daily 40 tonnes of waste plastics.

Rothesay Dock in Glasgow was announced last year as the second of an intended dozen plants the partners plan for on-site production of the clean gas.

By mid-afternoon, Powerhouse’s share price on AIM had dropped over 8% to a year low of 1.95 pence. It later recovered to 1.97 pence.

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