Resource management company Veolia is advancing its programme to create the hydrogen gas supply infrastructure and decarbonise the UK energy supply.
Believed to be the first application of its type in the UK, the company’s latest development is now managing projects which incorporate electrolyser technology to derive hydrogen from water, and powering these using the low carbon electricity from its Energy Recovery Facilities (ERF). Future use of the hydrogen could include both replacing the use of fossil fuel on the gas grid and alternative zero carbon vehicle fuel for commercial vehicles.
By using electrolysis, the process which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, it could create hydrogen that can be stored for future energy needs. This will cut carbon emissions, and is a potential future solution for decarbonisation as water is the by-product when hydrogen is used. The gas industry is testing ways to use hydrogen in the gas grid, and Veolia is already preparing sites to be able to use this hydrogen in a range of on-site energy plants such as combined heat and power units, and industrial boiler plant.
Veolia currently operates ten plants that take around 2.3 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste and transform this into electricity for over 400,000 homes. This combined generating capacity of 180MWe takes pressure off the stretched UK electrical grid and effectively avoids using fossil fuels for generation.
