First Hydrogen Refuelling Station with Shell Opens

 22 February 2017

 

ITM Power plc

("ITM Power" or "the Company")

 

First Hydrogen Refuelling Station with Shell Opens

 

ITM Power (AIM: ITM), the energy storage and clean fuel company, announces, with Shell, the official opening of the first hydrogen station to be situated on a forecourt in the UK.  The hydrogen refuelling station is located at Cobham services on the M25, the nation's busiest refuelling station.  The station is ITM Power's fourth public hydrogen refuelling station to be opened in the UK.

 

The station opening has been welcomed by industry:

 

Dr. Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power, said: "ITM Power is pleased to partner with Shell to bring their first forecourt hydrogen refuelling site to life. Electrolytic hydrogen is the cleanest, and lowest cost, renewable fuel available for fuel cell electric vehicles. We look forward to working with Shell to introduce additional hydrogen stations on their forecourts in the UK in the near future."

 

Sinead Lynch, Shell's UK Country Chair, commented: "We believe the journey to a low-carbon economy requires a coordinated and collaborative approach among organisations in the transport sector, including providers of energy and transport vehicles, users of transport vehicles, local authorities as well as government. The Cobham retail site is a small but significant first step toward developing infrastructure needed for increased usage of hydrogen vehicles."

 

FCH JU Executive Director, Bart Biebuyck, commenting on the opening: "While FCH JU project HyFIVE has already delivered significant results and contributed to addressing major EU challenges, we are very pleased to see an important industry player joining the venture.  The opening of Shell's first station in the UK occurs one month after the Hydrogen Council announcement at Davos, and reinforces the industrial commitment towards decarbonisation."

 

Paul Van der Burgh, Toyota (GB) President and Managing Director, said: "The opening of Shell's first forecourt hydrogen refuelling station at Cobham, the seventh hydrogen station in the country, is the result of collaboration, cooperation and determination from government and industry leaders to bring the benefits of sustainable ultra-low emission transport to the UK. At Toyota, we are committed to playing a leading role in environmental and technological advances in the automotive industry, and this new station will help us to introduce more customers to the benefits of our fuel cell vehicles, including our Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car.  We would like to congratulate the team involved on this significant new project."

 

Thomas Brachmann, automobile powertrain and material research expert at Honda R&D Europe (Deutschland) GmbH, said:  "The opening of the hydrogen refuelling station at Shell Cobham is a major milestone for the HyFIVE project and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in the UK.  To have a hydrogen refuelling station at a major service station by one of the busiest motorways in Europe will provide further convenience to drivers of hydrogen fuel cell cars, such as the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell."

 

Julia Thomas, Managing Director of Greentomatocars, says: "We welcome this new hydrogen fuelling station which will be extremely useful for our two Mirai hydrogen fuel cell private hire cars.  The addition of a hydrogen fuelling station south of London complements those already in operation to the east and west of London, boosting the capital's hydrogen infrastructure.  This should encourage more companies to follow the lead in adopting zero emission hydrogen vehicles which are good for people and for the environment."

 

Nick Power, Market Development Manager, Clean Fuels, BOC, said: "The Linde Group and its UK subsidiary, BOC, are proud to supply the compression and dispensing system for the UK's first hydrogen refuelling station on a Shell forecourt. Over the past several decades, Linde has played a pioneering role in the development of innovative hydrogen technologies. Our advanced ionic compressor employed at Shell's HyFIVE station at Cobham Services will deliver significant benefits in terms of greater energy efficiency, reduced noise pollution and less maintenance."

 

Shell's announcement, made today, is set out below:

 

SHELL LAUNCHES ITS FIRST HYDROGEN REFUELlING STATION IN THE UK

Location is Cobham services on the M25, the nation's busiest refuelling station

 

LONDON, UK, 22 February 2017 - Shell announces the launch of its first hydrogen refuelling station in the UK at its Cobham service station on the M25. The new hydrogen station has been supplied by ITM Power and is the first fully branded and public hydrogen refuelling site in the UK.  It is the first of three hydrogen stations Shell plans to open in the UK in 2017.

 

Matthew Tipper, Vice President, Future Fuels at Shell said: "Hydrogen has the potential to become a clean and versatile transport fuel for the future, and the Cobham hydrogen site is one of the ways Shell is encouraging the use of alternative fuels to contribute to the energy transition. This will provide customers with hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles the ability to refuel simply and quickly, at one of the largest petrol stations in the UK."

 

The opening of Shell's first UK hydrogen site follows the success of sites in California, and in Germany where Shell is part of a joint venture with the ambition to open a network of up to 400 hydrogen sites by 2023. Shell is in the process of assessing the potential of future projects in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

 

In addition, Shell is a founding member of the Hydrogen Council, announced at Davos in January 2017, comprising energy companies, OEMs and technology partners with a collective pledge to accelerate investment in the development and commercialisation of the hydrogen and fuel cell sectors.

 

Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles convert hydrogen into electricity and produce only heat and water when driven. They offer an alternative to the conventional internal combustion engine, a driving experience similar to electric cars, and no local emissions. Hydrogen vehicles can drive up to 700 kilometers without refuelling and can be refuelled in a few minutes at a standard forecourt with a hydrogen pump.

 

Sinead Lynch, Shell's UK Country Chair, commented: "We believe the journey to a low-carbon economy requires a coordinated and collaborative approach among organisations in the transport sector, including providers of energy and transport vehicles, users of transport vehicles, local authorities as well as government. The Cobham retail site is a small but significant first step toward developing infrastructure needed for increased usage of hydrogen vehicles."

 

The hydrogen is generated on-site using an electrolyser which requires only water and electricity to generate the hydrogen gas. The hydrogen station at Cobham is the third hydrogen site in the UK to be supplied by ITM Power and opened as part of the HyFive project. The initiative has been partially funded by the European Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, and the UKs Office of Low Emission Vehicles.

 

Dr. Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power, said: "ITM Power is pleased to partner with Shell to bring their first forecourt hydrogen fuelling site to life. Electrolytic Hydrogen is the cleanest and lowest cost renewable fuel available for fuel cell electric vehicles. We look forward to working with Shell to introduce additional hydrogen stations on their forecourts in the UK in the near future."

 

Bart Biebuyck, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) Executive Director, commented: "While FCH JU project HyFIVE already delivered significant results and contributed to addressing major EU challenges, we are very pleased to see an important industry player joining the venture.  The opening of Shell's first station in UK occurs one month after the Hydrogen Council announcement at Davos, and reinforces the industrial commitment towards decarbonisation."

 

Shell's Cobham site opened in 2012 and was built for the 150,000 vehicles that travel on the M25 on a daily basis. The site received more than a million customer visits in 2016.

 

ABOUT Hydrogen as a transport fuel:

 

·   Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are one of the technological innovations that help reduce emissions and address air pollution while offering convenience for motorists.

o FCEVs are powered by electricity and only produce water vapour, helping to improve local air quality.

o FCEVs do not produce CO2, or other harmful emissions from their tailpipe.

o Hydrogen technology has potential to store energy easily.

o Energy is stored in compressed hydrogen fuel, rather than in a battery.

·   Hydrogen mobility is a 'chicken and egg' situation. FCEVs will only be bought by customers if there is a refuelling infrastructure. Establishing and maintaining investment in fuelling infrastructure is only commercially attractive and sustainable if there are enough FCEV customers.

·   In the longer term, hydrogen in transport can help reduce well-to-wheel CO2 emissions from the transport sector if the electricity that creates the hydrogen is generated by renewable technologies such as wind or solar.

 

SHELL AND HYDROGEN:

 

·   Over the past 20 years Shell has embarked on several initiatives to encourage the adoption of hydrogen electric energy as a transport fuel.

o Ben van Beurden, along with 12 other CEOs and Chairpersons from energy, transport, and industry companies, recently launched the Hydrogen Council. The first global initiative of its kind, the Hydrogen Council will provide a united vision, long-term ambition and practical recommendations for how hydrogen can be implemented at scale to foster the energy transition.

o In Germany, Shell has four hydrogen fuelling stations, and is part of the H2 Mobility joint venture, alongside partners Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV and Total. With the support of the federal government, the joint venture is in the process of installing a nationwide network of hydrogen electric fuelling pumps.

o Shell also has two hydrogen fuelling stations in Los Angeles, California, with three planed hydrogen stations in the UK, and is exploring the possibility for additional sites in global markets.

 

For further information, please visit www.itm-power.com or contact:

 

ITM Power plc Graham Cooley, CEO	+44 (0)114 244 5111
Zeus Capital Andrew Jones / Jonathan Sharp / Hugh Kingsmill Moore	+44 (0)20 3829 5000
Tavistock Simon Hudson / James Collins	+44 (0)20 7920 3150

 

About ITM Power plc:

ITM Power manufactures integrated hydrogen energy solutions which are rapid response and high pressure that meet the requirements for grid balancing and energy storage services, and for the production of clean fuel for transport, renewable heat and chemicals.  ITM Power was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2004.  The Group currently has £16.87m of projects under contract and a further £1.36m in the later stages of negotiation (£18.23m in total).

http://www.itm-power.com

 

About HyFIVE:

Hydrogen For Innovative Vehicles (HyFIVE) is an ambitious European project including 15 partners who will deploy 185 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) from BMW, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota. To serve these vehicles, the project will create clusters of refuelling station networks in three parts of Europe, where six new stations (Danish Hydrogen Fuel, ITM Power and OMV) will be deployed linking them with 12 existing stations. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative under grant agreement n°621219.

http://www.hyfive.eu/

 

About FCH JU:

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) is a unique public private partnership supporting research, technological development and demonstration activities in fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies in Europe. Its aim is to accelerate the market introduction of these technologies, realising their potential as an instrument in achieving a carbon-lean energy system. The three members of the FCH JU are the European Commission, fuel cell and hydrogen industries represented by Hydrogen Europe and the research community represented by Research Grouping N.ERGHY.

 

About OLEV:

The HRS Infrastructure Grants Scheme was launched on the 2nd February 2015 by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to support roll out of hydrogen infrastructure networks in the UK with the specific aim of encouraging the introduction of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs). The HRS Infrastructure Grants Scheme provided grant funding for selected infrastructure projects seeding development of hydrogen for road transport in the UK.

 

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