The HIL (Hydrogen2 Industry Leaders) Scotland Conference held in Glasgow this past Tuesday (22.11.2022), saw over 300 delegates from 180 organisations gather together for the HIL inaugural event.
Simon Brewster – CEO, Dolphin N2 & Daniel Robb – System Engineer, Dolphin N2 were among the attendees at the event.
This one-day conference brought together a wide range of stakeholders responsible for delivering Scotland’s hydrogen objectives to discuss practical ways in which they can produce and distribute hydrogen successfully. (1)
The day was split into four sections:
- Aligning Transport Scotland & other key transport authorities to build a secure infrastructure
- Building for Success: Working collaboratively to build a network of hydrogen production, storage and distribution for transport
- Competitive Future: Scaling up technology to create a more robust business case
- Delivering for passengers: Encouraging modal shift through clean energy and modal shift
The UK Hydrogen strategy published in August 2021, was an expansion of the ‘The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution’ published in November 2020.
In the foreword for the UK Hydrogen Strategy, The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP explained:
“Working with industry, our ambition is for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for use across the economy. This could produce hydrogen equivalent to the amount of gas consumed by over 3 million households in the UK each year. This new, low carbon hydrogen could help provide cleaner energy to power our economy and our everyday lives – from cookers to distilleries, film shoots to power plants, waste trucks to steel production, and 40-tonne diggers to the heat in our homes.”
“Meeting our ambition means rapid ramp-up of production and use of hydrogen over the coming decade. In every country of the UK, there are ambitious, world-leading projects ready to deploy at scale, saving carbon and creating jobs. These trailblazers will help us fully understand the costs around hydrogen, its safety where hydrogen is being used in new ways, and just how far it can contribute to reducing our emissions.” (2)
With Hydrogen now gaining traction as a clean future fuel which could particularly help in the decarbonisation of the heavy-duty, off-highway, aviation & marine sectors, as well as the research into its use to top up the UK energy options; the HIL Conference was an opportunity to gather some of the key players together to discuss future opportunities.
Simon Brewster – CEO, Dolphin N2 is no stranger to the inherent decarbonisation challenges faced by the heavy duty & off-highway sectors.
The UK Hydrogen Strategy recognises that Large long-haul HGVs are the most challenging segment of the road sector for developing zero emission options due to their long journey distances & heavy payload requirements.
Some vehicles are in constant use & therefore require fast refuelling to meet operational requirements. (3) Likewise, off-highway & agricultural machinery also have similar workloads expected of them.
With this in mind, as part of the UK Gov. Hydrogen Strategy, they announced that they would be “investing up to £20 million this financial year in designing trials for electric road system and hydrogen fuel cell HGVs and to run a battery electric trial to establish the feasibility, deliverability, costs and benefits of these technologies in the UK”
Part of this investment has been the replacement of red diesel in the off-highway sector.
Red diesel is reportedly responsible for the production of nearly 14 million tonnes of carbon each year & being a fuel used primarily for such off-highway purposes as bulldozers, excavators, tipper trucks & on-site generator sets.
Providing grant funding for the development & demonstration of low carbon alternatives to diesel for the construction, quarrying & mining sectors, the UK Government competition was designed with the aim of decarbonising industries reliant on red diesel & providing a platform for alternative research & development in this area. (4)
BEIS awarded £6.7 million in grant funding across 17 projects for Phase 1, with up to £460,000 per project. (4)
One of the successful projects ‘HYDRATE’ was awarded to Dolphin N2:
HYDRATE – Hydrogen Recuperated Advanced Thermal Engine
Lead Partner: Dolphin N2 Limited
Partners: University of Brighton; Costain Limited
Total grant: £448,611.78
The HYDRATE project will develop a Hydrogen version of the Recuperated Split Cycle Engine (RSCE), a highly innovative, fuel-agnostic thermal engine targeting heavy duty applications.
The RSCE offers very high efficiency (competitive with a PEM fuel cell), and very low emissions (SULEV with aftertreatment).
It also offers an easy route to transition to a net-zero economy, as it can use existing ICE manufacture and supply chains, and match existing ICE installation requirements, all with a moderate capital cost increase).
Written & cited by Katy-Jane Mason for & on behalf of Dolphin N2.
- https://hydrogenindustryleaders.com/events/hil-scotland-2022/
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1011658/6-7515_BEIS_UK-Hydrogen-Strategy_017-Print-content.pdf
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1011283/UK-Hydrogen-Strategy_web.pdf
- https://dolphin-n2.com/hydrogen-adoption-for-off-highway-heavy-duty-how-the-dolphin-n2-hydrate-project-supports-a-hydrogen-transition/
