ITM Power gets grant for Isle of Wight hydrogen project

Jul 18, 2012 - UK energy storage and clean fuel firm ITM Power plc (LON:ITM) today said it had been awarded a GBP-1.3-million (USD 2m/EUR 1.7m) grant by the UK government's Technology Strategy Board for a hydrogen project on the Isle of Wight.

The project, worth a total of GBP 4.66 million, aims to build a hydrogen energy storage and vehicle refuelling system and integrate it into the power system. A further GBP 1 million of grant funding is provided to project partners that are integrating their equipment with the refuelling technology of ITM Power.

ITM Power will lead the initiative in collaboration with 10 partners, including UK energy group SSE (LON:SSE), Japanese Toshiba (TYO:6502), US IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Ecoisland Community Interest Co, a community group aiming to make the island a sustainable place in the coming years with support from business. ITM Power chief executive Graham Cooley said ITM Power's technology would be at the heart of the Ecoisland project, which gave his company a chance to combine its equipment with leading smart grid technologies and develop "the integrated energy grid of the future."

The focus of the GBP-4.66-million project is on integrating an electrolyser-based refueller with the Isle of Wight's renewable energy. Thus, the electrolyser refueller will act as a demand side management load enabling the production of zero carbon hydrogen for use as a vehicle fuel. The project will see the design, installation and operation of two grid-connected hydrogen refuelling platforms on the island for a range of hydrogen vehicles.

The ITM Power-led project is one of five projects that were granted funding by the Technology Strategy Board on Wednesday to speed up the adoption of fuel cells and hydrogen energy systems.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.565/EUR 1.276)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!