Can a hydrogen cluster provide the necessary scale to support a number of projects? Hydrogen South West is aiming to find out with its plans around Bristol.

“Hydrogen South West is a collection of large organisations that have come together in order to develop the hydrogen ecosystem in the southwest of England, and to try and stimulate and catalyse projects,” David Eccles, director of Hydrogen South West, told E-FWD.

The UK has a target to deliver 10 GW of hydrogen production by 2030. The government is initially developing four industrial clusters through its Track 1 and 2 programme. These are focused on carbon capture and storage (CCS) but often feature hydrogen projects.

The UK government is also running a funding scheme, aimed at regions outside these clusters. This is the Local Industrial Development Programme (LIDP).

Hydrogen South West is a partner in the West of England Industrial Cluster Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plan (WCIDP). The WCIDP group has received over £600,000 in the first round of funding from the LIDP.

Aggregating demand

Hydrogen South West is focused on grouping hydrogen demand from four key areas: aviation, maritime, land transport and infrastructure.

In aviation, aircraft manufacturer Airbus is driving activity, leading a consortium called the Aviation Working Group. This intends to develop the infrastructure required to support 100-200 seater hydrogen powered aircraft. Airbus wants the aircraft to be flying commercially from 2035.

EasyJet will need to replace its fleet in this timeframe and is a member of Hydrogen South West. It is advancing the research and development of hydrogen-powered ground support equipment at Bristol Airport.

In the maritime sector, Hydrogen South West sees an opportunity to develop hydrogen-powered vessels. These will support the maintenance and servicing of floating offshore wind platforms in the Celtic Sea.

In the land transport sector, Hydrogen South West is helping members consider how to decarbonise their vehicle fleets. Heavy-duty vehicles may be better suited to using hydrogen, than batteries.

And in the industrial sector the body has identified pockets of demand that could potentially substitute natural gas for hydrogen. This includes asphalt plants around Bristol port.

“If you aggregate all that demand, then there could be a sufficient business case for a developer [of hydrogen supply] to come in,” said Eccles. “Already some project developers are interested in what we are doing.”

Eyeing the supply

This process is already underway at Bristol port, where EDF Hynamics are advancing plans for a hydrogen production facility. Meanwhile, a CCS consortium called 7CO2 intend to capture CO2 from nearby waste-to-energy plants and SSE’s Seabank Power station.

The port is working with those organisations and others to put together a plan that will potentially see e-methanol and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) being produced at the port, from hydrogen and CO2. E-methanol can be used to decarbonise maritime transport, while SAF is considered the best near-term option for decarbonising the aviation sector.

Another advanced supply project is the Langage project in Plymouth. Langage, which is being developed by Carlton Power, aims to produce hydrogen from a 10 MW electrolyser. Initially, this will decarbonise local industry.

The project received the offer of a contract from the government to produce hydrogen as part of the first Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR1). The contract subsidises the difference between the cost of low carbon hydrogen production and the price of competing fuels.

Carlton Power hopes to take a final investment decision (FID) on Langage some time this year.

Elsewhere on the supply side, a 10 MW pilot production plant known as the Exeter H2 Hub is being developed in East Devon. This will service both Exeter airport, local authority vehicles and traffic down the A30 and A303.

“We’ve done a lot of introductions and helped them put that business case together to submit to the second hydrogen allocation round (HAR2),” said Eccles.

Hydrogen South West is also looking at opportunities around Bridgwater and Weston Super Mare. These have the potential for production, distribution and end-use.

Policy

The goal of the cluster and LIDP policies is to create areas of hydrogen activity. Ultimately, these will link up to form a UK-wide hydrogen economy.

The incoming Labour government has said its National Wealth Fund will continue to invest in hydrogen and industrial clusters “in every corner of the country”.

But it is still unclear how exactly this investment will be forthcoming, according to Eccles. “In common with the rest of the hydrogen industry, we really need some clarity from government on the business models for storage and transport and the models that will underpin production,” he said.

Regional developers such as Hydrogen South West are also calling for better planning guidelines from central government.

“We could do with strong guidance for local authorities on planning, in order to give them some confidence that they are consenting to the right things on the right grounds,” he added.

Updated on August 5 to correct the fourth working group and the recipient of the £600,000 grant.

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