Partnership aims to put hydrogen at heart of region’s decarbonisation

Organisations including the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and Toyota Manufacturing UK have come together to form a new partnership, which aims to put hydrogen at the heart of the region’s industrial decarbonisation.

The partnership, called East Midlands Hydrogen, brings together a cluster of hydrogen demand forecasts from industrial sites in the Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and northern Leicestershire regions, which are asking for more than 10TWh of hydrogen by 2040 in total to enable site decarbonisation.

It is claimed that for these sites alone, access to low carbon hydrogen would enable carbon savings of 1.9 million tonnes per year, the equivalent of gas-related carbon emissions from 860,000 homes.

Later this week,  the East Midlands Hydrogen partners and their supporters will come together at Toyota’s Burnaston plant for an event designed to showcase its plans.

Will Morlidge, chief executive of D2N2 LEP, said: “We have the ambition, drive, energy – and the partnerships to do this at scale as we drive towards our net zero future.

“I can’t emphasise enough the scale and immediacy of opportunities across our region and I’m looking forward to working with our partners to make this happen at pace.”

The event at Toyota will bring together more than 150 local industry partners, including hydrogen producers, distributors and more than 30 prospective industrial users of hydrogen, local authority representatives, as well as political champions of hydrogen.

Toyota itself is a great advocate of hydrogen. Earlier this month, the firm unveiled the first prototype hydrogen-fuelled Toyota Hilux.

The zero emissions vehicle, known as the FCEV Hilux, has been developed at Burnaston by a consortium led by Toyota Manufacturing UK, with backing from the UK Government.

Deputy managing director Tim Freeman said: “Toyota is taking a multi-path approach to reducing carbon emissions, not only through our mobility solutions and services but also in our manufacturing operations.

“Supporting this is our goal to achieve carbon neutral operations by 2030, including here at Burnaston, and hydrogen can play an important role in achieving these ambitions.

“It is a privilege to play host to an event of this nature bringing key players, both industrial and political, together to lay the foundations for a future hydrogen society.”

As well at the D2N2 LEP and Toyota, other major names who are part of East Midlands Hydrogen include Cadent, Uniper, Midlands Engine, East Midlands Freeport and Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership.

Sally Brewis, head of regional development at Cadent, said: “The sheer scale of demand for hydrogen in this region coupled with GW production potential, creates an urgent imperative for a 100% hydrogen pipeline to connect supply and demand.

“Bricks, building materials, food and drink and flexible power generation companies have all told us they need hydrogen to decarbonise.

“Design work is underway for a dedicated sub-section of Cadent’s East Coast Hydrogen pipeline network; the low carbon hydrogen delivered by our pipeline would allow industry to decarbonise their operations and protect manufacturing jobs in the region.”

Sir John Peace, chairman of Midlands Engine, said: “The launch of East Midlands Hydrogen – pioneering the UK’s largest inland hydrogen cluster – is a significant milestone.

“It clearly demonstrates there is both real demand for and confidence to invest in a regional hydrogen energy system at scale.”

Tom Newman-Taylor, chief executive at East Midlands Freeport, said: “East Midlands Freeport is working hard to unlock the potential of the region by attracting significant new investment, creating highly skilled employment opportunities and accelerating towards our net zero commitments.

“Backing hydrogen for industry and propulsion is the latest step to position the region as a hotbed of innovation for green energy and technology with world leading research partners at the heart of the country.”