The first green hydrogen production and refuelling station in the Solent region has been installed at Portsmouth International Port.

This hydrogen refuelling station integrated with a containerised plug and play electrolyser, compressor and hydrogen storage by Engas Global Ltd will connect the port to the UK’s hydrogen network.

Green hydrogen uses renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, to power the electrolysis of water to create hydrogen, which will be used to power maritime vessels and dockside vehicles.

The installation forms part of the SHAPE UK (Shipping, Hydrogen, and Ports Eco-system) project, which received £1.5 million funding by Innovate UK/Department for Transport to propel the government’s commitment to have zero emission ships operating commercially by 2025 and establishing the UK as world leaders in clean maritime.

Dr Amitava Roy, Senior Lecturer in Renewable Energy Systems at the University of Portsmouth, is the Founder and CEO of Engas Global. Dr Roy is also the Course Leader of the University’s Renewable Energy Engineering Degree. He said: “Engas Global is looking ahead to scale up green hydrogen production. We will use our lower cost, atmospheric pressure electrolysers integrated with hydrogen compressors.

“Innovative low-cost green hydrogen generation and storage systems can bring significant reduction in carbon emissions and air pollution in and around Portsmouth and other UK ports.”

The School of Energy and Electronic Engineering at the University of Portsmouth is playing an important role in the SHAPE UK project, through system level modelling of hydrogen systems and integrating them with existing systems. One PhD research project is currently working on electrolysers and compressors powered by wind and solar energy and another PhD project on back-up power systems is currently open for applicants.