Uniper, Siemens Energy, Toyota Tsusho and Associated British Ports (ABP) have successfully secured matched UK Government funding to study producing green hydrogen to decarbonise the Port of Immingham (pictured).
The finance from the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK will help develop around 20MW green hydrogen production for use at the port.
This will be either as a direct replacement to diesel and heavy fuel oil, or for the production of clean shipping fuels.
Their aim is to tackle the challenge of decarbonising maritime, for which electrification is not a viable solution.
Immingham could be the first step in the uptake of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels across the whole maritime sector.
The companies will now undertake a full feasibility study for this exciting project, known as Project Mayflower.
The study will review the technical and economic feasibility of reducing port greenhouse gas emissions with hydrogen and develop a clear plan for future development.
It will also assess key areas encompassing the conversion of existing infrastructure, the generation and storage of hydrogen and potential end uses of green hydrogen in and around the port.
Successful completion of the feasibility study could enable a front-end engineering design study (FEED) to start in 2022, with potential financial investment decisions in 2023.
Green hydrogen production is anticipated by 2025.
Uniper UK country chairman and group chief commercial officer Power Mike Lockett said: “This is excellent news.
“We’re really pleased that we’ll now be able to progress our feasibility study, with our partners, in this ground-breaking area.
“We believe that hydrogen could be an ideal solution for enabling the decarbonisation of those hard to reach sectors such as transport, heavy industry and maritime.”
Siemens Energy vice president for the UK and Ireland Steve Scrimshaw added: “Securing this funding means we will be able to assess the full decarbonisation potential of hydrogen in the maritime sector, which has the potential to be replicated at other ports across the world.”
Associated British Ports chief executive Henrik Pedersen said: “This successful bid is an exciting and important step in the UK’s journey to Net Zero.
“We believe that hydrogen will be a game-changer for decarbonising maritime and wider industry and we are delighted that ABP’s Port of Immingham can play a pioneering role.”