Hy-Value : Waste Biogas to Hydrogen for Road Transport

The Hy-Value scheme offers a source of hydrogen that can be an important resource regionally or nationally as the number of hydrogen vehicles grows, offering a low-cost route from sewage waste biogas to hydrogen, for use as a road transport fuel. Hydrogen vehicles have advantages over Battery Electric vehicles in specific applications, offering a similar user experience to petrol/diesel with 400 miles range and 5 minute fill times. Hy-Value provides an integrated approach by considering both hydrogen supply and hydrogen demand (from vehicles) in one real-world scheme. Hy-Value addresses the fact that the hydrogen economy is currently slow in taking off by demonstrating cost effective, large scale production of green hydrogen, alongside hydrogen fueled vehicles that use the hydrogen produced at the proposed facility. Current progress is too slow due to the absence of a readily available supply, to stimulate the industry to create vehicles and vice versa. Opportunities to store CO2 captured by the hydrogen production process will be investigated, by reviewing the regional industrial clusters progressing CO2 storage though the IETF fund. Costain will be collaborating closely with D?r Cymru / Welsh Water, a potential customer of technology to convert biogas to green hydrogen and of hydrogen vehicles to decarbonise their fleet. This single project has the potential to fully decarbonise the whole of Welsh Water's transport. The availability of green hydrogen will de-carbonise the water industry and transport in South Wales and across the UK. Welsh Water are well-suited as a close partner because they already use renewable biogas for CHP at four locations. The hydrogen production facility is planned to be located at one of their wastewater treatment sites that produce the biogas. Parity with diesel costs at £5/kg hydrogen is currently sought. An earlier scouting study indicated the cost of hydrogen would be at that level from this project. We will work with Cardiff City Council to understand their potential demand for hydrogen vehicles. * Phase 1 of the proposed project will build confidence, defining the scheme through technology reviews and a concept design. * Phase 2 will develop the design to investment grade detail, whilst in parallel demonstrating hydrogen use in converted vehicles, providing assurance to potential off takers of hydrogen that the technology is ready to be deployed.