A green hydrogen facility near Bristol is set to be up and running next spring after securing £2.5m of funding from the West of England Authority (Weca).
The production, storage and research site will make green hydrogen at the Institute of Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS) at Bristol and Bath Science Park in Emersons Green.
It will be the first of its kind in the region, according to metro mayor Dan Norris, who said the project would bring an estimated £5m to the West Country as businesses move to the region to undertake research at the site.
The energy created at the plant will used on the IAAPS site to reduce the building’s carbon footprint while they carry out research on how to use green hydrogen in hard-to-electrify sectors such as aviation, shipping and heavy-duty transport.
Mr Norris said: “Hydrogen is clean, it’s powerful and there is lots of it. That’s why I’m pleased to vote for this £2.5m cash injection in this zero-emission fuel. This is the right direction of travel facing up to the future rather than going back to the past with fracking."
"The Green Hydrogen plant puts IAAPS, the University of Bath and the West of England region at the forefront of hydrogen research and innovation."
The announcement comes just days after another organisation joined a group of big firms in the South West developing major hydrogen infrastructure across the region. Wessex Water became the tenth member of Hydrogen South West (HSW) - a consortium which spans aerospace, shipping, hi-tech engineering and public utilities.
Aerospace giants Airbus and GKN Aerospace; Bristol Airport; airline Easyjet; Bristol Port; consultants and engineers Costain and Wood; energy giant EDF’s hydrogen subsidiary Hynamics; and Wales and West Utilities have all already signed up for the scheme, announced in June.
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