Water Woes Cloud Green Hydrogen’s Future In The Middle East
August 31, 2023
Irish Rail diesel locomotive to be converted to hydrogen ICE
September 16, 2023
A UK consortium has secured over £3m ($3.7m) in government funding to develop mobile hydrogen refuelling for construction sites. The Ryze-led consortium, made up of iGAS, Wrightbus, Skanska, Mace Dragados and Sizewell C, has been awarded £3.2m ($3.99m) from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s Red Diesel Replacement Programme to develop and demonstrate a new suite of production-ready hydrogen refuelling equipment suitable for construction sites.
Planned to be used to demonstrate new technologies at a working quarry site where a “large quantity” of construction machines will be on trial, the trial is hoped to prove hydrogen as a pathway for using low-carbon alternatives to red diesel in construction, mining and quarrying.
Additionally, the project will support the development of standard operating procedures, site safety, equipment standardisation and hydrogen knowledge sharing, with case study reports from project partners on the feasibility for hydrogen use on major construction sites from 2025.
“Hydrogen is a promising alternative to diesel that can significantly reduce carbon emissions,” said Ryze’s Chief Executive, Neil Isaacson. “The exhaust products of hydrogen combustion are also considerably cleaner than diesel-based alternatives.”
Ryze’s Executive Chairman, Jo Bamford, is the son of Lord Anthony Bamford, Chairman of JCB, which has developed a variety of hydrogen internal combustion engine (ICE) construction machines.
Isaacson continued, “With hydrogen fuelled vehicles likely to be widely available from 2025, there is an urgent need to develop a hydrogen supply chain and associated equipment that is mobile, flexible and provide hydrogen on demand at construction sites.
“This new refuelling equipment is essential to give hydrogen providers commercially viable solutions to supply hydrogen to construction sites.” Last November (2022), Ryze and Centrica announced plans to jointly build and operate hydrogen production facilities on existing Centrica and third-party sites in the UK.
