Green hydrogen producer Hydrogen Future Industries (HFI) has joined forces with hudrogen producer and distributor Tower Green Holdings Limited. Tower will use HFI’s hydrogen production technology, no win development, as it is establishes multipurpose hydrogen hubs in the southwest of England to provide energy storage and hydrogen as a fuel. HFI has made an initial investment of £100,000 in Tower for a 20% equity stake Tower.
Earlier this month Tower signed an agreement with Element 2 Limited, a UK-based developer of hydrogen refuelling stations and a retailer of hydrogen fuel to fleet operators and other consumers. The partnership connects Tower’s green hydrogen with the infrastructure required to supply fuel to hydrogen-powered trucks and haulage vehicles.
HFI’s technology in development is a wind-based hydrogen production system combined with electrolyser technologies which aims to generate hydrogen for under $2 per kilogramme. It would use a proprietary wind turbine distinct from current open rotor turbines.
David Ormerod, Executive Director of HFI, said, “Through this agreement, not only are we gaining early investment exposure to the massive growth opportunity in hydrogen refuelling which is analogous to the rollout of EV charging infrastructure over recent years, we are also supporting Tower’s ambition to become a vertically integrated green hydrogen producer and distributor in the UK.”
There is arguably a greater need for fuel cell grade hydrogen in Birmingham where there are 20 hydrogen powered buses operating supplied by Wrightbus and refueled at the Tyseley Energy Park, which has just enough capacity to refuel them and a few hydrogen powered cars. The buses are operated by National Express that has ordered a further 124 of them, so there is an urgent need for more fuel cell grade hydrogen filling stations in Birmingham, as well as to support heavy goods vehicles delivering goods to the city. The city council has an ambitious target to decarbonise the city by 2030.