Exolum is to construct a green hydrogen production plant and refuelling station in England’s Tees Valley as part of the Tees Valley Hydrogen Vehicle Ecosystem project.
The project, which has been awarded £7m of grant support from the Department for Transport in partnership with Innovate UK under the Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Hub Competition, is expected to be fully operational in 2025.
The site will feature the construction of a water electrolyser and a hydrogen refuelling station at Exolum’s Riverside terminal in Stockton-on-Tees, near to Middlesbrough town centre and at the intersection of the strategic A19 and A66 roads.
The electrolyser will produce green hydrogen using renewable electricity and will supply both the refuelling station, with a capacity of 1.5 tonnes per day, and other customers in the region using a “hub and spoke” delivery model.
The project also includes UK fuel cell electric vehicle manufacturer Electra Commercial Vehicles and German manufacturer Quantron AG, in partnership with Novuna Vehicle Solutions, who together will deploy at least 20 fuel cell electric trucks, ranging from 4.2 to 27 tonnes.
These manufacturers will receive a total of £5m under the same funding competition.
The vehicles will be used by some of the region’s largest vehicle operators, who will replace existing diesel vehicles, thereby reducing local air pollution and carbon emissions.
Data monitoring and performance evaluation of the hydrogen trucks will be carried out by Teesside University’s School of Engineering Computing and Digital Technologies and Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre.Exolum clean energies lead Andrés Suarez said: “At Exolum we want to be a relevant player in green hydrogen technology, which is positioning itself as an efficient energy vector to help decarbonise sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy-duty mobility.
“This project in the UK comes in addition to others we have under development and others already fully implemented, such as the first hydrogen plant for mobility in Madrid, Spain.
“Thanks to joint collaboration with other pioneering companies, we will be able to offer this new technology to the market to drive the energy transition.”