The Clean Hydrogen Innovation Programme (CHIP), a Joint Industry Programme led by the Carbon Trust in collaboration with Levidian, National Gas Transmission, Scottish Power and SSE, has launched its first three projects.
CHIP, which was launched in 2023, said the projects address critical challenges within the clean hydrogen supply chain—which is broadly what the CHIP initiative sets out to address. It focuses on the production of hydrogen from ‘clean’ or green renewable sources and looks at the carbon footprint across the supply chain from production through to offtake.
The first of the newly launched projects, led by hydrogen-focused consultancy HyEnergy and technology provider HIVE hydrogen, will evaluate the current state of hydrogen compressors available in the UK market. It will compare the cost and performance of existing technologies in international markets, identifying practical trade-offs and operational barriers.
Another area of focus is hydrogen purification, which the second project addresses. Led by Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a London headquartered consultancy, it will deliver a cost-benefit analysis, looking into the purity requirements across various points of the hydrogen supply chain. The study will assess the extent to which current and near-market purification technologies can meet purity demands and at what cost.
The project will also aim to identify where innovation in purification technologies is most needed and could be most impactful.
The third project centres on the economic and carbon implications of hydrogen distribution and buffer storage. It will address trade-offs between using tube trailers and pipelines for hydrogen distribution and evaluate the commercial viability of onsite buffer storage options such as compressed gas storage tanks.
Delivered by Glasgow-based consultancy Optimat and engineering consultants John Wood Group, it will also assess the carbon footprint of various distribution systems and determine how costs and emissions scale with capacity and innovation.
Andrew Lever, director for energy transition at the Carbon Trust said: “Our work in collaboration with our industry partners and innovators will help to de-risk future projects, enabling the next wave of clean hydrogen development and supporting the UK’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions.”
CHIP’s overarching objective is to support the development of clean hydrogen initiatives characterised by tens of megawatts (MW) of production capacity, with a focus on connecting multiple producers and off-takers across the supply chain. It targets midstream infrastructure including the distribution network, storage and transportation.
The group received the support of by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) under previous energy secretary Claire Coutinho in the Hydrogen Strategy Delivery Update in December 2023. DESNZ said some of its decisions in the sector had been informed by CHIP’s Innovation Needs Assessment.
SSE recently began developing a new green hydrogen production facility in Cheshire. Meanwhile, the Scottish government announced that hydrogen projects with a production capacity of 5-400MW will be able to bid for a share of up to £7 million in funding, which will help to cover development stage costs.
