Fortescue Future Industries to become UK’s largest supplier of green hydrogen

Under a memorandum of understanding, signed prior to COP26, JCB and Ryze Hydrogen will purchase 10% of FFI’s global green hydrogen production which is anticipated to grow to 15 million tonnes per year by 2030 and reaching 50 million tonnes per year in the following decade.

FFI Chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest, said the agreement signals the first major shift in the global commercial landscape from fossil fuels towards the practical implementation of green hydrogen. “The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with replacing fossil fuel with only two million tonnes of green hydrogen is the equivalent of taking over eight million cars off the road – almost a quarter of the UK’s entire fleet.”

While the agreement did not specify how FFI intends to ship up to 1.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen to the UK by the end of the decade, FFI has been investigating hydrogen exports as both ammonia (in a consortium with JERA, Marubeni and IHI reported by The Motorship here), as liquefied hydrogen (in a deal with Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Iwatani Corporation in December 2020), and most recently with Japan’s Eneos Holdings using Chiyoda Corp’s toluene based MCH technology (previously covered back in 2019 by The Motorship here.)

JCB is investing £100 million on a project to produce highly efficient hydrogen engines, with the first expected to be on sale by the end of 2022. A prototype hydrogen powered JCB backhoe loader and a Loadall telescopic handler have already been unveiled at an event attended by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Jo Bamford, founder of Ryze Hydrogen, is also owner of Wrightbus. Ryze Hydrogen is building the UK’s first network of green hydrogen production plants, while Wrightbus built the world’s first hydrogen double decker bus. “We want the Government to show its commitment to the sector by investing in buses, trains, trucks, ships, aircraft and the entire green hydrogen supply chain.

“At best, any hydrogen made from fossil fuel is being promoted as a transition fuel, but the production of it causes more pollution than it saves. This agreement demonstrates that green hydrogen does not need to be ‘transitioned’ via fossil fuel hydrogen.”

An extended offtake agreement will also be evaluated to provide green hydrogen to the European market, and the parties have agreed to evaluate collaboration opportunities to accelerate green hydrogen demand and establish green hydrogen and green industry manufacturing centres.

In October, FFI announced that it had acquired the commercial assets of Xergy Inc and Xergy One to form FFI Ionix Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of FFI and based in the United States, FFI Ionix will operate as a technology development company focused on commercialisation of hydrogen technologies, including ion exchange membranes for water electrolysis, electrochemical compression, water transmission and fuel cells.

FFI and Fortescue Metals Group formally joined the UN Race to Zero Coalition ahead of COP26.