The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has announced details of its £23m Hydrogen Transport Programme, with the aim of expanding the network of hydrogen refuelling stations alongside the deployment of fuel cell vehicles, following its previous HRS Infrastructure Capital Grant Scheme.
The new £23m Hydrogen Transport Programme (HTP) will provide funding to support the roll-out of hydrogen refuelling stations and fuel cell vehicles in the UK. The programme has two primary objectives:
1. to increase the number of publicly-accessible hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK; and
2. to increase the number of fuel cell-powered electric vehicles on UK roads.
The funding by open competition for both Hydrogen Refuelling Stations (HRS) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and will be released in two stages. Stage one of the HTP opened to applications for funding on 17 August, and closes on 16 October 2017. It is anticipated that several projects will receive funding awards, to be funded between November 2017 and May 2019.
• Stage one will commit up to £9m to 50:50 match fund around seven HRSs to be completed in 2018/19, plus captive fleets. Funding will commence in November 2017.
• Stage two will commit up to £14m to fund up to ten HRSs plus captive fleets and will begin in December 2018, subject to market developments over Stage 1.
The funding will allow additional larger capacity HRSs to be built, while optimising the utilisation of these and existing stations by providing funding to support the purchase of vehicle fleets that can be refuelled at all HRSs.
For further information about the programme – including details about how to apply – see the Hydrogen Transport Programme website https://ee.ricardo.com/htpgrants.
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