Some of Britain’s biggest companies have joined forces for a landmark clean hydrogen mega-project which will inject £6.5bn of private capital into the economy and create 24,300 jobs across the UK’s industrial heartlands.
Project HySpeed has mobilised an alliance of UK-based firms from FTSE100 to SMEs – including Centrica, Heidelberg, ITM Power, JCB, Johnson Matthey and National Gas – in direct response to the Government’s call to make the UK a clean energy superpower.
Scaling hydrogen production, cutting costs and strengthening the UK’s renewable energy leadership, HySpeed plans to produce 1GW of capacity by 2030 and reduce CO2 emissions by one million tonnes a year.
HySpeed was unveiled in the same week as the Government’s HAR2 funding announcement, which shortlisted 27 electrolytic projects across the UK designed to deliver a thriving low carbon hydrogen economy.
Green entrepreneur Jo Bamford, Executive Chairman at the HydraB Power group which put forward the proposal, said: “Now more than ever the UK needs to stand on its own two feet, especially when it comes to our energy resources. Hydrogen offers us the opportunity to be energy secure and energy independent.”
The project will aim to build a robust hydrogen ecosystem that benefits British industries and workers. Strategically located hydrogen production hubs will support local ecosystems and inject hydrogen into the gas grid to enable UK-wide industrial decarbonisation.
Coupled with aggregated procurement of equipment and services, optimised power purchasing and low-cost-financing, HySpeed will help reduce the cost of green hydrogen and embed manufacturing jobs for generations.
Coupled with aggregated procurement of equipment and services, optimised power purchasing and low-cost-financing, HySpeed will help reduce the cost of green hydrogen and embed manufacturing jobs for generations.
The report said the UK would benefit from £2bn a year in Gross Value Added (GVA) from the creation of new industrial supply chains and hydrogen production facilities. Among the thousands of new jobs created, many would be in the construction, operations and manufacturing sectors and would support the UK’s Green Jobs Delivery Group’s target of 480,000 skilled green jobs by 2030.
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