First Hydrogen are a Canadian company that specialises in energy and automotives and on the 5th of July (2022), the company stated that they had submitted two sets of production plans to the UK Government regarding new green hydrogen projects.
The company hopes to get funding from the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF) Strand 1 programme, which was set up as the first stage of funding by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), who have plans to set up further strands of funding to accommodate construction.
If successful, First Hydrogen, plan to establish two production sites that will have an initial capacity of 40MW each, and between the two projects it is predicted they will produce 7,100 tonnes of green hydrogen annually. This green hydrogen is to be used to supply fuel to vehicle fleets owned by their customers.
The two areas selected to host these projects are the Thames Estuary and Carrington in Greater Manchester. These sites have been chosen as hydrogen growth strategies have been put into place in these areas and First Hydrogen already have the backing of several stakeholders and landowners in these areas.
In May (2022), the company had already begun to test the use of hydrogen to power a vehicle, the vehicle they tested on was a light-commercial vehicle (LCV). If the testing is successful, the company has high hopes that by September their hydrogen powered vehicles will be road safe and legal to drive.
