The boss of the newly established North East base of hydrogen creator Lhyfe says the firm is focussed on delivering benefit to the region.
Colin Brown, who was chosen by the French firm to launch its 海角视频 arm following a 鈧110m IPO on the Euronext Paris exchange, told Business Live the business is looking at a number of earmarked sites in the North East for a future green hydrogen production plant. And he hopes to grow a team of 10 out of Lhyfe鈥檚 Newcastle base by the first quarter of next year.
Armed with the capital to set up green hydrogen projects - seen as an alternative energy source for industry and transport - the firm will then seek operational support through the Contracts for Difference scheme in much the same way wind farm operators have done.
Read more: Net Zero North East England aims to put region at head of climate agenda
Mr Brown said: 鈥淭he ambition is to grow the business out of the North East. We鈥檙e here and the opportunity is great for hydrogen, and for me, I really believe in it. There鈥檚 obviously lots going on down in Teesside and there鈥檚 lots of focus on that but actually there are also some good opportunities north of Teesside.鈥
Mr Brown says Lhyfe wants to set up a project in the North East that will allow the region to see value in green hydrogen production. He hopes that such an initial project - or multiple projects - will deliver economies of scale for many users, not just individual companies.
Green hydrogen is seen as a replacement for natural gas and can be used in existing gas networks, and is also a replacement for oil-derived fuels such as petrol and diesel, as well as aviation and marine fuel. It is made using an electrolyser that splits the hydrogen and oxygen in water.
The process requires a substantial amount of energy and Lhyfe has already developed the world鈥檚 first offshore electrolysis demonstrator - 鈥楽ealhyfe鈥 - in a bid to reach gigawatt scale production powered by wind farms and to 鈥渄e-risk鈥 the technology for likely investors.
Though nascent, the firm is working on the assumption that green hydrogen demand will emerge - particularly in the transport sector. Some process industries already use hydrogen - hence the work of bp on Teesside - and for other energy intensive manufacturers, it could be a sustainable alternative where electrification is not possible.
Mr Brown explained: 鈥淲here hydrogen differs maybe to batteries - which is where there has been a lot of focus over the last decade - is that it gives you longevity and it鈥檚 convenient.鈥
He added: 鈥淚f you need to run a car for 24 hours a day, that鈥檚 reliable and you don鈥檛 need to stop to recharge, then batteries aren鈥檛 going to cut it - so you need to find an alternative. Hydrogen offers the convenience that petrol and diesel offers now. If you pull into a pump, it takes about three minutes to fuel your Toyota Mirai [a hydrogen powered model] and you get about 500 miles out of it.鈥
Lhyfe will deliver its hydrogen to customers via road deliveries. And there are hopes that fuelling forecourts could be opened on the A19 and A1 in partnership with another operator.
Mr Brown added: 鈥淭he next step beyond Sealhyfe is to scale it up and to scale it up to a more commercial opportunity. Get it deployed and help de-risk the technology that then makes it more bankable and attractive to investors.鈥 He added: 鈥淔or me, I鈥檇 love to see that happening in the 海角视频. We鈥檝e got such a strong offshore wind resource and portfolio in the 海角视频, and we鈥檝e got a massive 28 gigawatts of offshore wind being developed in Scotland and that just can鈥檛 be grid connected - it鈥檚 too big. We need to find alternative routes to market, and green hydrogen offers that route to market.鈥
READ NEXT:
