GHD gets UK Government funding for longer-term trial storage of hydrogen energy

GHD, one of the world’s largest professional services firms, has been awarded funding by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for a project aimed at demonstrating the use of an innovative hydrogen storage system.

The project is a collaboration with LAVO Hydrogen Storage Technology Pty Ltd, with the University of Chester’s Thornton Science Park providing a demonstrator location.

The funding comes from BEIS’s Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration competition, Stream 2. The scheme is part of the Government’s ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution, which includes a commitment of £100 million to address “Energy Storage and Flexibility Innovation Challenges” as part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. The Program will fund the demonstration of novel long-term energy storage technologies that enable grid flexibility.

The project’s objective is to demonstrate an energy storage system for hydrogen generated from grid electricity by utilizing LAVO’s patented metal hydride technology. The hydride technology has been demonstrated on a small scale in Australia; this project will illustrate how it can be used to provide energy storage for the UK electrical network by providing low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen to local customers in the North West of England.

Among the project’s distinguishing traits are the following:

• Demonstration of the economics of hydrogen production during periods of excess renewable energy generation and storage in long-duration energy storage media (metal hydrides);
• Scalable modular approach that benefits numerous components of an integrated energy system;
• A simple, stackable hydrogen energy storage system capable of supplying little or no carbon hydrogen in a wide variety of configurations and applications; and Cost-effective, safe, and efficient hydrogen low-pressure storage.
• The project has the potential to be a critical facilitator for the burgeoning hydrogen economy by providing low-cost hydrogen to customers.

The project will be based at the University of Chester’s Thornton Science Park in the North West of England, close to a number of existing and potential hydrogen users, thereby assisting in the establishment of a ‘hydrogen hub’ and establishing links with the North West Hydrogen Alliance and the HyNet industrial decarbonisation cluster.