The Government has announced that it will transform Teesside into the UK’s first research, development and testing centre for hydrogen as it is transformed into a Hydrogen Transport Hub.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has commissioned a masterplan to understand how it can accelerate the UK’s ambitions in hydrogen. Expected to be published in January 2021, the plan will pioneer how green hydrogen could power buses, heavy goods vehicles, maritime and aviation transport, bringing together industry, academia and central Government.
The ground-breaking Hydrogen Transport Centre will result in research, development and testing of new hydrogen technologies right where over half of the country’s hydrogen is already produced.
The hub will further strengthen the region’s clean growth ambitions, opening up hundreds of opportunities in the clean energy sector.
This Hydrogen Transport Centre will complement the new Tees Valley Net Zero Innovation Centre campus in Middlesbrough.
‘This is yet more proof we are the number one place in the country for hydrogen research,’ Mayor Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor, commented.
‘I’ve always said that if Government wants to prove to the people of Teesside, Arlington and Hartlepool that it is serious about its levelling up the agenda, then bringing the National Hydrogen Transport Centre to our region would be a no-brainer. That is what they have done, and it shows once again how much they recognise the potential of our region.’
Mayor Houchen said the scheme would pump £7 billion into the region’s economy as well as create thousands of additional jobs between now and 2050
‘Teesside has led the world in steel manufacturing and engineering for generations. Now we can become a trailblazer in the industries of the future.’
