By ashleykaren
National Highways has published a tender for the supply and on-site storage and distribution of low-carbon hydrogen for the Lower Thames Crossing project near London.
The agency, responsible for the strategic road network in England, declared it wants the road tunnel crossing to be the first significant UK infrastructure project to use hydrogen to power the heavy machinery of a project’s primary contractors, which would contain excavators and dump trucks.
Low-carbon hydrogen incorporates both green hydrogens produced by renewable energy and non-renewable hydrogen produced by non-renewable energy.
As National Highways claimed, the crossing is a “pathfinder project” for developing carbon-neutral construction. “Low-carbon hydrogen is a key element in [the crossing’s] strategy to deliver its carbon reduction targets and a key objective of this procurement is to enable a significant reduction in the use of diesel on the program by enabling the use of hydrogen-powered plant, machinery and generators.”
A probable initial supply site for the hydrogen is the Thames Freeport, which is close to the suggested crossing’s tunneling compound and has been recognized as a potential hydrogen supply site.
The Thames Freeport, at Dagenham on the Thames River, downriver from London, is an economic zone linking automaker Ford’s Dagenham engine plant to other ports further downriver and is part of the Port of London Authority’s 2040 net-zero targets. Also, the Freeport will connect sites along the Thames Estuary through operational wharves.
In addition, other smaller and static on-site plants will be employing a variety of ‘green’ energy, like green electricity, battery systems, and biofuels – even mains electricity, if connections can be made. The hydrogen tender is for almost 6,000 tons of fuel that is anticipated to substitute 20 million liters of diesel.
However, the enterprising Lower Thames Crossing project is still in the planning stage, with the UK’s Planning Inspectorate having begun last month to investigate in detail the plans. Even if given the go-ahead, construction would not start until 2026.
National Highways declared the tender is to kick starts the Construction Leadership Council’s government-backed plan to eradicate diesel from most construction sites by 2035, by giving the confidence to invest in hydrogen skills and technologies to significant firms and suppliers.
Matt Palmer, executive director of Lower Thames Crossing, claimed: “The proposed Lower Thames Crossing is designed to be the greenest road ever built in the UK, with the aim of being carbon neutral in construction,”
“At the heart of these plans is the use of clean low-carbon hydrogen power. By using it on such a large scale to power our heavy construction machinery that is traditionally hard to electrify, we can significantly reduce our carbon footprint, accelerate the construction industry’s shift away from diesel and help kick start the creation of a hydrogen ecosystem in the Thames Estuary.”
Last March, Palmer was selected as an industry sponsor looking after net zero and biodiversity for the Construction Leadership Council, the representative forum for professional bodies, research organizations, and specialist business associations in the UK’s construction sector.
