- The campaign kicked off with the publication of a cornerstone editorial in the Sunday Telegraph on the hydrogen economy, written by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS’s founder and Chairman.
- Today sees this followed by a national multi-media campaign that includes substantial billboard and digital advertising as well as a hydrogen innovation bus tour and presence in Glasgow at COP26.
- Sir Jim says: “Hydrogen is the dream fuel. You can heat your home with it. You can drive your car on it. Burn it and all it produces is energy and the only by-product is water. We can all live with that. The world has committed to hugely reducing its carbon emissions and hydrogen is unquestionably going to play a large part in accomplishing this goal.”
- INEOS Automotive is also exploring new opportunities in the hydrogen economy, with a hydrogen fuel cell demonstrator of its Grenadier 4x4 now in development.
Hydrogen is a fabulous, clean source of energy that can be used as both a raw material for industry and as a power source for transport and the home. It has a massive role to play in lowering the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and INEOS is committed to playing a leading role in the hydrogen revolution.
INEOS, through its subsidiary INOVYN, is Europe’s largest existing operator of electrolysis, the critical technology that uses renewable energy to produce hydrogen for power generation, transportation and industrial use.
INEOS already produces and uses 400,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen every year, the equivalent of replacing up to 2 billion litres of diesel. It knows how to make, transport, store and use hydrogen.
Being a user and producer of hydrogen puts INEOS in a unique position at the heart of green hydrogen development. And the Company has announced that it intends to invest more than €2 billion in new production of green hydrogen across Europe.
It is also launching a major hydrogen advocacy campaign to draw attention to both the benefits and applications of hydrogen. The campaign will include significant billboard and digital advertising in London and Glasgow, a UK hydrogen bus tour and the exhibiting of a hydrogen-powered car at COP26.
Sir Jim says, “Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes etc. have many demonstration hydrogen engines happily driving around. We will have a hydrogen INEOS Grenadier on test next year (alongside an electric version). This piece of the jigsaw is the most advanced.”
The Company’s INEOS Automotive division is backing hydrogen fuel cells as the clean powertrain solution for future versions of its upcoming 4X4 vehicle. Thanks to a partnership agreement signed in November 2020, the Grenadier hydrogen fuel cell concept will use fuel cell technology from Hyundai Motor Company, with testing to begin by the end of 2022.
In the longer term, hydrogen’s other massive contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases will be in the home heating space where natural gas can be replaced by hydrogen which could cut greenhouses gases by up to a third on its own.
Wherever possible, INEOS will continue to prioritise the production of green hydrogen that is made from water using electrolysis powered by renewable energy, but it is also investing in the production of blue hydrogen when the carbon produced can be safely captured and stored underground.
Sir Jim, also has a message for Government. “The infrastructure, clearly critical, needs a government push on legislation and investment. The German government is well advanced with nine billion Euros committed and over 200 filling stations operational. The UK Government has yet to get out of the blocks but hopefully soon will. The UK has only a handful of hydrogen pumps today.”
ENDS