UK's first integrated hydrogen transport system to be built

30 January 2013, source edie newsroom

A consortium of companies will begin work on a three year project to create the UK's first hydrogen powered transport system across London and the South East.

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The government-backed initiative will create a network of hydrogen fuelling stations and deliver new hydrogen vehicles.

Led by industrial gases and equipment supplier, Air Products, the consortium will deliver a publicly accessible, 'state-of-the-art fast-fill 700 bar renewable hydrogen fuelling station network'.

The London Hydrogen Network Expansion (LHNE) will also deploy new hydrogen vehicles in London, including a number of Hyundai hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and Revolve hydrogen powered vans.

According to the consortium, creating this network is particularly important because the major car manufacturers have confirmed that the hydrogen vehicles available for purchase in the UK from 2014/15 require 700 bar (fuel pressure) fuelling systems.

The LHNE project will upgrade the existing fuelling station located near Heathrow Airport to 700 bar and deliver a brand new fuelling station with this specification in London.

In addition, the project will increase accessibility to the dual pressure fuelling station at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, and the Transport for London station in Stratford.

Air Products European business manager hydrogen energy, Diana Raine, said: "The LHNE project will bring together all the components necessary to make hydrogen transport possible across London and the South East, as we prepare in the UK for the arrival of commercially available hydrogen vehicles.

"We hope that this project will act as an exciting demonstration model to be replicated across the UK and Europe in years to come."

The LHNE consortium comprises of Air Products, Cenex, Commercial Group, Element Energy, Heathrow Airport Ltd and Revolve Technologies Ltd and the project is co-funded by a grant from the UK's innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board.

It is one of five research and development projects selected by the Technology Strategy Board in 2012 to help accelerate the adoption of energy systems using hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, bringing them into everyday use.

Leigh Stringer