EPSRC Hydrogen Hubs Launch
26th – 27th September 2023
The first day of the EPSRC Hydrogen Hubs Launch event was dedicated to a public unveiling and celebration of the UK Hub for Research Challenges in Hydrogen and Alternative Liquid Fuels (UK-HyRES) and the Hydrogen Innovation for Accelerated Energy Transitions Hub (HI-ACT). It was a day filled with insights, discussions, and a shared vision for the future of hydrogen in the UK.
Day 1: 26th September 2023 – EPSRC Hydrogen Hubs Launch
Dr. Dawei Wu, (HI-ACT Co-I, University of Birmingham), extended a warm welcome to Birmingham. Prof. Sara Walker (HI-ACT Director) and Prof. Tim Mays (UK-HyRES Director), representing the hubs, followed with their greetings and thanked everyone for their contributions to this point. Councillor Lisa Trickett from Birmingham City Council delivered a keynote address, highlighting the importance of hydrogen in sustainable urban development and emphasising the need for a just transition that addresses fuel poverty.
The next session featured an overview of HI-ACT by Prof. Jianzhong Wu (HI-ACT Co-Director, Cardiff University). UK-HyRES was positioned by Prof. Rachael Rothman, UK-HyRES Co-Director at the University of Sheffield, who delved into our unique Hub structure and large, accessible, flexible fund (>£4M). Prof. Rothman discussed our journey so far and the ways for stakeholders to not only engage, but actively shape research that delivers impact. The audience also had the privilege of viewing a video message from The Rt Hon Chris Skidmore OBE MP, who stressed the importance of taking people along on the journey to net zero and the need for agility and flexibility as strategic drivers for change.
The plenary session introduced the Joint Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), co-chaired by Rita Wadey and Prof. David Grant (Energy Institute Director, University of Nottingham). The session also included fantastic presentations by Prof. Henry Tse on the opportunities that the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative (HII) partnership offers and Dr. Allan Simpson of Equilibrion discussed the role of Nuclear Enabled Hydrogen, who remarked, “It’s time to diversify our thinking”.
A panel discussion on “Hydrogen and Alternative Liquid Fuels in a Net Zero Economy,” moderated by Celia Greaves, featured industry experts: Bethan Winter – Wales & West Utilities – System Operations Manager, Prof Xiaohong Li – University of Exeter – Professor of Renewable Energy, Dr Mark Bankhead – National Nuclear Laboratory – Technology Manager Hydrogen and Helen McColm – Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – Joint Head of Hydrogen Theme.
The day concluded with engaging discussions in the “Hydrogen Futures – Meet the Investigators” session, where attendees explored future research opportunities and priorities for the hubs. It was an enriching day filled with knowledge sharing and networking, marked by a shared commitment to a sustainable future. The second day of the event shifted focus to cross-hub collaboration between the two Hub teams and the inaugural meeting of the Joint Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). It was a day dedicated to strategic discussions and planning for the future. In the Cross-Hub meeting Dr. Chris Jones (UK-HyRES Social Theme Lead) led the UK-HyRES team, while Prof. Jianzhong Wu led the HI-ACT team. These meetings included discussions on joint case study projects and stakeholder engagement plans, fostering collaboration and project development. Following a coffee break, the focus turned to stakeholder engagement planning. Dr Rajan Jagpal (UK-HyRES Researcher) delivered a workshop on stakeholder engagement and strategy. Parallel to the Cross-Hub Meting, the SAB convened for its inaugural meeting. Featuring roundtable discussions, steer from the co-chairs, and updates on HI-ACT and UK-HyRES progress. SAB members actively contributed their thoughts on research challenges, systems integration, and stakeholder engagement, reflecting the strategic drivers for change set by Chris Skidmore and Lisa Trickett. The day concluded with a cross-hub debriefing session, where valuable insights and learnings were shared. Prof. Tim Mays and Prof. Sara Walker warmly thanked all attendees and closed the meetings. Both days of the EPSRC Hydrogen Hubs Launch event were marked by collaboration, knowledge sharing, and a shared commitment to advancing hydrogen and alternative liquid fuels research for a sustainable future. The event served as a vital stepping stone towards achieving the goals of the Hydrogen Hubs and their mission to drive innovation in the hydrogen sector.
Day 2: 27th September 2023 – Cross-Hub Meetings and SAB Inaugural Gathering
On the 9th June Professor Tim Mays was the invited plenary speaker at the Western Gateway’s Hydrogen Conference at the ICC in Newport, Wales on 9/6/23.
FUTURE PERSPECTIVE | EDINBURGH
EDINBURGH | 20/04/23
UK-HyRES held its latest hydrogen community engagement meeting, “Future Perspective”, at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on Thursday 20 April 2023.
Aims and Objectives
- A look forward to the Hub and to share details
- To hear leading expert perspectives on the future of hydrogen and alternative liquid fuel research
- To emphasis the Hub structures strategic alignment to the future direction of research (technical and cross-cutting)
- To network and build collaborations and partnerships
Over 60 delegates convened to hear a range of national and international speakers.
Gus MacIntosh (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) gave an opening address and shared the department’s future strategy and reminded us of the importance of cross-sector collaboration, commenting “You can’t work in a silo when you’re trying to change the global energy system”.
Prof Martin Dornheim (Leverhulme International Professor for Hydrogen Storage Materials and Systems, University of Nottingham) delivered the first talk, which focused on his research in solid state metal hydride storage systems.
Prof. Dornheim presents in Edinburgh 2023.
Invited international speaker Dr. Peter Holtappels (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) discussed electrochemical processes for Power2X and E-fuels, highlighting the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and the StoRIES project, which aims to build a storage research infrastructure ecosystem.
Prof. Holtappels presents in Edinburgh 2023.
Professor Jennifer Wen (Professor in Energy Resilience, University of Surrey) focused on her perspective of the safety challenges and her research into ignition and flames, reaffirming “It is so important to address safety across the entire H2 value chain”.
Prof. Wen presents in Edinburgh 2023.
Jon Harman (Technology Delivery Director, Ceres Power) stressed the importance of green hydrogen production and discussed Ceres’ Solid Oxide technology and the development of the SteelCell. Reminding us that this was born from a university spin-out and the importance of research.
Jon Harman presents in Edinburgh 2023.
Prof Anthony Kucernak (Professor of Physical Chemistry, Imperial College London) shared a fantastic pre-recorded talk as he was currently away. He reminded us to not only look at the small scale and also to think creatively. Prof. Kucernak highlighted his research that showed that you can reduce the cost of hydrogen by valorising waste streams and producing valuable secondary products.
Prof Andresen presents in Edinburgh 2023.
Our final talk was delivered by Prof. John Andresen (Heriot-Watt University) who focused on the industrial decarbonisation challenge, emphasising the point that the industrial sector is responsible for 9% UK GDP, 2.5 million direct jobs, 16% UK emissions and will need 2 million more green jobs by 2030.
Nigel Holmes (Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Association) chaired a lively afternoon panel discussion which was a look at the future hydrogen economy. Panellists included Prof John Irvine (University of St Andrews), Prof Joan Cordiner (University of Sheffield), Alan Mortimer (Development Director, Eneus Energy Ltd) and Dr Peter Forman (Northumbria University). Prof Irvine reminded us all that “Tomorrow’s technology is today’s research” and that we should challenge ourselves to go further than Net Zero and aim for a carbon negative system. Prof Mays rounded the day off with his vision for the proposed hub and his hope, that together, we can overcome challenges, deliver net zero and build a future hydrogen economy.
Panel discussion Edinburgh 2023.
Slides
Hydrogen-safety-research-the-achievements-and-the-challenges
REGIONAL ROADSHOWS
WARWICK | 02/02/23
SHEFFIELD | 06/03/23
WESTMINSTER | 17/03/23
During the second phase of the UK-HyRES coordination project, three Regional Roadshows were held to convene leading experts and industrial partners. The objective of these events was to deliberate the challenges and opportunities of the hydrogen energy industry and propose solutions towards achieving the UK’s aim of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
The one-day workshops brought together representatives from universities and various industries across each region, offering a platform for participants to share ideas and collaborate on finding solutions. The events were facilitated by expert facilitators, The Collective, who used the theory of change to drive tangible outcomes. Over 120 participants joined us across the three events, which were interactive and participatory.
PI Professor Tim Mays presents the proposed Hub vision at the Warwick Regional Roadshow 2023.
The discussions at the Roadshow events encompassed a broad range of topics, including the proposed research hub in hydrogen and alternative liquid fuels. One of the key themes was the storage of hydrogen, where participants explored different storage solutions such as compressed hydrogen gas, liquid hydrogen, and solid-state storage. The discussions highlighted the need to develop safe, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly methods for storing hydrogen. Participants also recognised the challenges associated with the high pressure requirements for compressed hydrogen gas and the low temperatures needed for liquid hydrogen, emphasising the need for innovative storage technologies and a deeper understanding of material behaviour.
The role of government policies in promoting the hydrogen energy industry was also deliberated, along with various methods of hydrogen production such as green synthesis, electrolysis, and bioprocesses. The participants evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of each method, emphasising the importance of developing low-cost, scalable, and green hydrogen production methods to make hydrogen energy accessible to a wider range of applications.
The end use of hydrogen was another key discussion topic, where the participants explored its various applications such as aerospace, heavy goods vehicles, agriculture, food production, and power generation. The discussions highlighted the challenges associated with the implementation of these technologies, emphasising the need to develop safe and reliable hydrogen fuel cell technologies and a supportive infrastructure, including hydrogen refuelling stations, to enable widespread deployment of hydrogen energy.
Participant discussions in Church House Westminster – Regional Roadshows 2023.
The workshops also covered cross-cutting themes such as safety, economics, environmental impact, and social acceptability. Participants emphasised the importance of conducting life cycle analyses to understand the environmental impact of hydrogen energy and the role of government policies in promoting sustainable and socially acceptable hydrogen energy solutions. Safety aspects were discussed in Sheffield, where Co-I Prof. Joan Cordiner led the discussion around hydrogen pipelines and the necessary safety considerations. In London, risk perception and arguments around public acceptance were highlighted, with social scientists arguing for the importance of the field to precede the radical changes needed in response to Net Zero.
In Sheffield, fruitful discussions around decarbonising the steel industry took place, where the participants deliberated the challenges of switching from monitoring hydrocarbon-fuelled forges to pure hydrogen-oxygen flames. Similarly, in London, the participants discussed how Glycerol, a useful substance in hydrogen production, can be sourced as waste from the paper industry.
To summarise, the UK-HyRES Regional Roadshow series was a valuable opportunity for experts to engage in meaningful discussions about the challenges and opportunities facing the hydrogen energy industry. The insights, proposals, and networks developed during the workshops will play a crucial role in shaping the future of clean energy and helping the UK achieve its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The visualisations from Scriberia will follow shortly. We appreciate all the valuable discussions that took place.
Slides from Sheffield and Westminster
On Thursday 3 November 2022 UK-HyRES Principal Investigator Prof Tim Mays gave an invited, keynote talk “Connecting Basic Research on Hydrogen with Industry and Policy” at the re-scheduled Scottish Policy Conference “Developing the Hydrogen Economy in Scotland”, read more at https://www.scotlandpolicyconferences.co.uk/conference/SPC-Hydrogen-22.
Research Challenge online showcase
21st October 2022
Showcase Objective
To present the structure of the hub and co-develop the details of the projects within it.
On Friday the 21st October we held our rescheduled interactive and participatory workshop. There was an amazing response from across the hydrogen community with over 90 participants. Facilitated by The Collective, we first heard from Prof Tim Mays, who welcomed all attendees, before Prof Rachael Rothman introduced our vision for the Hub.
Dr Derek Craig, delivered the opening address at the event. Derek is Deputy Director Cross-Council Programmes within the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Derek is responsible for strategic leadership and oversight of EPSRC’s environmental sustainability and decarbonisation research and innovation agenda working closely with colleagues across UKRI and the external academic, business and policy communities. He set out EPSRCs vision and the funding landscape, as well as the objectives of EPSRC. This included the imperative to create added value to the UK industrial strategy, widely collaborate and to champion EPSRCs place-based agenda.
Through four different breakout sessions, we collectively examined some of the research challenges identified through our previous workshops. Primers were delivered, that discussed the technical theme challenges, from the UK-HyRES investigators, Tim Mays, Rachael Rothman and Shanwen Tao. These challenges are highlighted in the attached slide deck an in the image below. While they represent priorities, these lists are by no means exhaustive. If there are more ideas, thoughts, or key priorities that weren’t discussed, please do get in touch and speak to one of the team.
Thanks to all that attended, your participation and engagement is vital to allow us to shape a successful hub.
Read more about the Storage workshop >>
Register for a free webinar, “Climate Change: Catastrophe or Opportunity?”, held on October 4th 16:30 -17:30. The Rt Hon Lord Deben will talk mainly about his role as Chair of the Climate Change Committee but also about his career journey to this. The interviewer will be Tim Mays who is Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at Bath, UK-HyRES PI, and Director of the University’s very well-established Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment (I-SEE), which will be the host at Bath for the seminar. Read more about the event and register for free.
Prof Tim Mays (UK-HyRES PI) gave an invited, keynote presentation on progress on UK-HyRES at the online Hydrogen Fuelled Transport Conference organised by Network-H2 on 21/9/22. Read more about the event.
Theme 4 – Alternative Liquid Fuels
20th July 2022
Alternative liquid fuels (ALFs) such as ammonia are increasingly regarded as a key component of the future energy mix towards the net zero imperative. Through our launch workshop, you also told us that alternative liquid fuels was one of the major areas that you wanted to discuss. On the 20th July UK-HyRES held the fourth themed workshop focused on the research challenges, future vision and opportunities surrounding ammonia and alternative liquid fuels to answer that call.
Discussion focused not only around ammonia but also of some other alternatives such as ethanol, methanol and formic acid. In the workshop we first watched an insight talk by Josh Makepeace (University of Birmingham) who set out the background of ammonia and why it is so promising, including how the related fuel cell technologies might look. We also heard from Laura Torrente-Murciano (University of Cambridge) who explored the reasons why ALFs are needed, remarking “We need novel integrated energy systems taking into consideration energy supply and demand profiles”.
With safety a common discussion throughout all of our workshops, we later heard from Stuart Hawksworth (Head, Centre for Energy and Major Hazards, Health & Safety Executive & President, International Association for Hydrogen Safety). He reminded us that “safety can not be an afterthought” and that we need to think smarter about safety and develop new evidence based standards. John Irvine (University of St Andrews) gave the final insight talk, with his perspective on the future vision for alternative liquid fuels and green ammonia, highlighting the particular industrial interest in ammonia for shipping.
The Collective expertly facilitated the session to allow attendees to debate key questions designed to determine the research challenges and the opportunities, framed around the Theory of Change.
The UK-HyRES team would like to particularly thank our invited speakers for their insightful contributions as well as all attendees. Developing a UK Centre of Excellence would not be possible without this fantastic engagement.
The research team will now start work analysing the comments and outputs, with the final outcomes published on our website in the coming weeks.
Thanks again for all participation, don’t forget our next event takes place on the 15th September, in-person, at the University of Warwick. A Research Challenges Showcase, we plan to discuss the steps forward, present our findings and continue the conversation. Registration details will available on our Events page in due course.
A recording of the workshop is available below, you can also download the workshop slide deck and view all the insight talks.
Read more about the Production workshop >>
Read more about the Storage workshop >>
THEME 3 – END USE
5th July 2022
Hydrogen is often discussed from the perspective of fuel cells, but many other end users rely on hydrogen, from ammonia, methanol and steel production, to power generation, oil and metal refining, and synthetic fuels. On the 5th July 2022 UK-HyRES held the third themed workshop, focused on the challenges, opportunities and future vision for the end use of hydrogen.
The end use of hydrogen is crucial to accelerating the uptake of hydrogen and alternative liquid fuels in pursuit of net zero. In the workshop we watched an enlightening video, recommended by Nigel Holmes (Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association) and produced by Ben Burman, summarising the motivation and challenges in hydrogen uptake.
Later in the workshop, Anthony Kurcernak (Imperial College London) delivered an insight talk on the strategic drivers for change, highlighting the many end users with a stake in the hydrogen economy. Qiong Cai (University of Surrey) gave the final insight talk, with her perspective on the future vision for hydrogen fuel cell technology, such as cheaper and more durable catalysts.
Facilitated by The Collective, attendees debated key questions designed to determine the research challenges and the opportunities, framed around the Theory of Change.
The UK-HyRES team would like to particularly thank our invited speakers for their insightful contributions as well as all attendees. Developing a UK Centre of Excellence would not be possible without this fantastic engagement.
The research team will now start work analysing the comments and outputs, with the final outcomes published on our website in the coming weeks.
Thanks again for all participation, don’t forget our next workshop takes place on the 20th July (Alternative Liquid Fuels). Registration details will available on our Events page in due course.
A recording of the workshop and all insight talks are available below, catch up now if you missed the event.
Download the report:
