Ørsted and Partners Secure Government Funding for Hydrogen Project

The Gigastack feasibility study, led by ITM Power, is a six-month project to investigate the potential delivery of bulk, low-cost and zero-carbon hydrogen. The funding has been secured as part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Hydrogen Supply Competition, which looks at ways to accelerate the development of low carbon hydrogen supply solutions.

The aim of the project is to identify opportunities to reduce the cost of producing hydrogen through the process of electrolysis, making it a more viable option for the UK’s energy system and for decarbonising industry.

Matthew Wright, UK Managing Director at Ørsted, said:

“We must continue taking urgent action to limit the damaging effects of climate change. The UK already leads the world in deploying renewable energy and accelerating the use of new technologies, such as green hydrogen, has a crucial role to play in decarbonising industrial processes.

“We’ve seen the cost of offshore wind reduced dramatically thanks to industry and government working together, and I hope this project can be the start of a similar journey with green hydrogen.”

Anders Christian Nordstrøm, Vice President for Hydrogen at Ørsted, said:

“Combining renewable power with flexible green hydrogen production is a key part of decarbonising energy systems across Europe and ultimately creating a world that runs entirely on green energy.

“Hydrogen production by electrolysis is a technology with great potential and this Gigastack project is an important step forward as we look to reduce costs and make green hydrogen a viable solution for the energy transformation. It is great to have this support from the UK Government for the project.”

Dr Graham Cooley, CEO, ITM Power said:

“The Gigastack Project seeks to significantly lower the cost of producing green hydrogen by scaling the individual electrolyser stacks to 5MW and the production process to 1 GW (1,000 MW) of electrolysis capacity per annum. We are delighted to be working on this important initiative, backed by the UK Government, with Ørsted, the largest supplier of offshore wind in the UK.”

Gigastack, funded by the BEIS Hydrogen Supply Competition, will demonstrate the delivery of bulk, low-cost and zero-carbon hydrogen through gigawatt scale polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis manufactured in the UK.

Climate Change Minister Lord Duncan said:   

“Using the power of hydrogen could help cut emissions, create jobs and make industrial processes cleaner and greener, benefitting the whole economy as we work towards net zero by 2050.  

“This innovative project from Ørsted & ITM Power will help our efforts to roll out hydrogen at scale by the 2030s – a crucial step towards the end of the UK’s contribution to global warming.”

The project will investigate:

• development of a new 5 megawatt (MW) stack design to reduce material costs;
• a new semi-automated manufacturing facility with an electrolyser capacity of up to 1 gigawatt a year to increase throughput and decrease labour costs;
• deployment of large scale and low cost +100MW electrolyser systems using a number of the 5MW units; and
• innovations in the operation of these large electrolysers to enable them to operate with large scale renewable energy.

Achieving Net Zero carbon emissions around mid-century will need integration of very high levels of renewables into the wider energy system. Recognising this challenge, through the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, the industry has committed to establishing a Task Group to identify opportunities to strengthen the role of offshore wind in delivering innovative solutions, such as wind-to-hydrogen.