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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/P024807/1
Title: Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Hub Extension (H2FC SUPERGEN)
Principal Investigator: Brandon, Professor NP
Other Investigators:
Irvine, Professor J Kucernak, Professor A Molkov, Professor V
Book, Professor D Dodds, Professor PE Metcalfe, Professor IS
Mays, Professor T Shah, Professor N Steinberger-Wilckens, Professor R
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Arcola Energy Cenex Ceres Power Ltd
E4Tech Ltd Intelligent Energy Ltd Johnson Matthey
Department: Earth Science and Engineering
Organisation: Imperial College London
Scheme: Standard Research - NR1
Starts: 01 May 2017 Ends: 31 December 2022 Value (£): 3,373,117
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Fuel Cell Technologies Sustainable Energy Vectors
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Energy
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
25 Oct 2016 Supergen Extension 2016 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
The H2FC sector is developing at a rapid pace around the world. In USA, Germany, S.Korea, and Japan, where the government has provided incentives or entered public-private partnerships, the uptake of FC technologies has been far greater than in the UK and is expected to grow, generating billions of dollars every year. In Asia, manufacturers will produce around 3,000 fuel cell cars in 2016 and around 50,000 fuel cell combined heat and power devices. Toyota alone expects to build 30,000 FC cars in 2020. Some hydrogen buses in London's fleet have operated for nearly 20,000 hours since 2011 and the city of Aberdeen runs Europe's largest hydrogen bus fleet, while individual stationary fuel cells have generated power for over 80,000 operating hours. The recently issued H2FC UK roadmap has identified key opportunities for the UK and areas in which H2FC technologies can have benefits.

The H2FC 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, (ii) to identify, study and exploit the impact of hydrogen and fuel cells in low carbon energy systems, and (iii) to create a cohort of academics and industrialists who are appraised of each other's work and can confidently network together to solve research problems which are beyond their individual competencies. Such systems will include the use of H2FC 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, boats/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 their ability to use a wide range of low to zero carbon fuel stocks.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Summary
Date Materialised
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Organisation Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk