Page 7 - October 2019

industry & government news

GOVERNMENT SETS ASIDE cost of electrolysis by developing a

new polymer electrolyte membrane
electrolyser that can be manufactured
FUNDS TO EXPLORE LOW in 5MW modules and stacked together
to form larger installations at least
100MW in size.
CARBON HYDROGEN being produced in a new semi-
The company envisions the modules

automated factory that could churn out
up to 1GW of electrolysers each year.
For comparison, the largest existing
factories around the world have an
annual output of less than 30MW.
Other winners from the Hydrogen
Supply Competition include the
Dolpyhn project, from Environmental
Resources Management, which would
see electrolysers co-located with floating
wind farms, and EDF Energy’s Hydrogen-
to-Heysham project, which would see
them installed at its Heysham 1 and 2
nuclear power stations.
BEIS has also announced £350
million of new funding alongside the
grants – £100 million for a competition
EDF’S LATEST PROJECT WILL SEE ELECTROLYSERS to boost hydrogen production and £250
INSTALLED AT TWO NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS million for a new Clean Steel Fund to
support the decarbonisation of iron and
THE GOVERNMENT HAS awarded 20 proposals. The competitions will each steel using hydrogen.
projects a share of £7 million to explore dole out up to £20 million in total. Speaking to Utility Week, ITM
innovative ways of making and using Climate Change Minister Lord Duncan Power boss Graham Cooley claimed
low-carbon hydrogen, reports edie.net. said: “Developing hydrogen technology electrolysis powered by renewables
The Department for Business, Energy has the potential to not only reduce could provide a cheaper way to produce
and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) granted emissions from industry but could also low carbon hydrogen than extracting
£4.9 million to 13 applicants for its help us seize the opportunities of the it from methane and capturing the
Hydrogen Supply Competition and global shift to cleaner economies – with resulting carbon dioxide emissions.
£2 million to seven applicants for its the prize of up two million jobs and £170 Northern Gas Networks selected the
Industrial Fuel Switching Competition billion of annual exports by 2030.” latter technique as the better option
to undertake feasibility studies. One of the winners from the for feeding the £22.7 billion hydrogen
The findings will help determine Hydrogen Supply competition is the gas grid, which it has proposed as part
which of the participants receive Gigastack project, led by ITM Power. of its H21 project, primarily on the
further funding to progress their The company is aiming to reduce the basis of cost.

NORWEGIAN OIL AND GAS INSPECTION FIRM

AGREES DEAL WITH NATIONAL GRID

A NORWEGIAN OIL and gas pipeline The project will aim to address what it
inspection technology firm has calls “a significant challenge to the UK’s
announced a new contract with infrastructure” with around more than
National Grid. 200 miles of high-pressure pipelines that
Bergen-headquartered Halfwave told cannot currently be inspected.
Energy Voice it will provide its Acoustic Josh Blake, GRAID Project Lead for THE ART SOLUTION WILL BE ATTACHED TO NATIONAL
Resonance Technology (ART) to the National Grid, said: “Having looked at GRID’S SELF-PROPELLING ROBOT TECHNOLOGY
Gas Robotic Agile Inspection Device many technology options, nothing else
(GRAID) platform. on the market gives the quality of data System (NTS), a system which
The company said it will supply its that Halfwave’s technology does. provides gas that more than 80 per
ART solution, which will be attached “With the addition of these cent of UK households depend on.”
to National Grid’s self-propelling bespoke sensors, project GRAID has The solution will allow the robot
robot technology, developed for the potential to change the face of to move through station pipework at
inspection of unpiggable gas pipelines infrastructure management across high pressures and could speed up the
with complex geometries. the country’s National Transmission inspection process by up to five times.

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News.indd 2 19/09/2019 15:05