A consortium of major energy and industrial firms in the UK have announced plans for a £6.5 billion hydrogen “mega-project”.
Project HySpeed, led by HydraB Power and backed by firms including Centrica, JCB, ITM Power, Johnson Matthey, Heidelberg Materials and National Gas, aims to deliver 1GW of green hydrogen capacity by 2030.
The companies intend to develop a national network of hydrogen production hubs to fuel energy-intensive industries such as steel, glass and cement, via the gas grid – bypassing the need for them to invest in new onsite hydrogen infrastructure.
The project is expected to create around 24,300 jobs and help reduce one million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
It also aims to reduce the cost of green hydrogen by buying equipment in bulk and building the project with at least 50% UK content.
In addition, the project claims to have the potential to add around £2 billion a year in Gross Value Added and support the government’s green jobs target of 480,000 skilled net zero jobs by 2030.
Chris O’Shea, CEO of Centrica has been quoted as saying: “Hydrogen can play a crucial role in tackling emissions from sectors that other clean energy sources can’t easily reach. It can be used to power the UK when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.”
