The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Supergen Hub is pulling together UK researchers, industry, and government to figure out exactly where hydrogen and fuel cells fit in the country's future low-carbon energy system. This matters because the UK has ambitious carbon emissions targets, but renewable power sources like wind and solar are intermittent—they don't generate electricity on demand. Hydrogen and fuel cells offer a way to store surplus renewable energy and release it when needed, smoothing out the supply. They can also power vehicles (cars, buses, ferries) and provide low-carbon heating for buildings, all while running on fuels that produce little to no carbon emissions. If the Hub succeeds, it could help shift the UK away from fossil fuels for transport and heating—two sectors that are notoriously hard to decarbonise. The work also aims to connect academic discoveries with companies, from global firms to small startups, to create jobs and inform government policy. The Hub is not developing a single technology; it is coordinating the entire UK hydrogen and fuel cell research landscape, building networks, training the next generation of engineers, and ensuring the country has a coherent strategy for deploying these technologies at scale.
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The Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (HFC) SUPERGEN Hub seeks to address a number of key issues facing the hydrogen and fuel cells sector specifically: (i) to evaluate and demonstrate the role of hydrogen and fuel cell research in the UK energy landscape, and to link this to the wider landscape internationally, and (ii) to identify, study and exploit the impact of hydrogen and fuel cells in low carbon energy systems. Such systems will include the use of HFC technologies to manage intermittency with increased penetration of renewables, supporting the development of secure and affordable energy supplies for the future. Both low carbon transport (cars, buses, boat/ferries) and low carbon heating/power systems employing hydrogen and/or fuel cells have the potential to be important technologies in our future energy system, benefiting from their intrinsic high efficiency and ability to use a wide range of low to zero carbon fuel stocks. One major drive for the Hub is to contribute to technology development that will help the UK to meet its ambitious carbon emissions targets. We will also link the academic research base with industry, from companies with global reach through to SMEs and technology start-ups, to ensure effective and appropriate translation of research to support wealth and job creation for UK plc, and with local and national government to inform policy development. The Hub will champion the complete landscape in hydrogen and fuel cells research, both within the UK and internationally, via networks, knowledge exchange and stakeholder (including outreach) engagement, community building, and education, training and continuous professional development.
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