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Loughborough University part of hydrogen project in Midlands

Lucy Dixon
24.01.2022

Experts from Loughborough University are part of HyDEX, a new programme designed to accelerate the hydrogen economy in the Midlands.

The Hydrogen Development and Knowledge Exchange (HyDEX) programme brings together the university partners in the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA), with multinational businesses, SMEs and other partners, in order to accelerate innovation in hydrogen, build markets and the supply chain, and support the skills needed for the emerging hydrogen economy.
The HyDEX programme will allow businesses to accelerate the development and viability of new hydrogen products and associated intellectual property, while supporting the transition from declining industrial sectors and enabling the training and re-skilling required.
The £4.99m three-year programme is being funded via the Research England Development (RED) Fund scheme, which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It will see the ERA university partners making available their £111m worth of hydrogen facilities, large scale demonstration programmes, and research capabilities to businesses.This will be supported by the expertise of leading industrial partners in transport, heating and manufacturing technologies, who are also involved in HyDEX. These include Worcester-Bosch and Cadent (hydrogen boilers and gas networks); Intelligent Energy (fuel cells); Toyota (hydrogen vehicles); FAUN Zoeller (heavy vehicles); Cenex, ENGIE (Hydrogen Networks); Progressive Energy, ITM Motive (hydrogen generation and transport respectively); Siemens and ENGIE (hydrogen production and storage).

Loughborough’s involvement in the HyDEX programme is being led by Professor Upul Wijayantha from the Department of Chemistry. Professor Wijayantha is also leading the overall Demonstrator Programme for HyDEX.

He said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Loughborough University, ERA partners and the Midlands region, as it will put us in a globally leading position in hydrogen technology innovation. The HyDEX programme is a perfect opportunity to achieve some important objectives that we identified last year when we worked with the Midlands Engine to formulate the 10 points Green Growth Plan for Midlands region.”

The other universities involved in the programme are Keele (project lead), Aston, Birmingham, Cranfield, Nottingham and Warwick.