The NI Council putting its energy into hydrogen

Hydrogen has been identified as a priority growth area for Mid and East Antrim where the borough council is leading on a pilot project aimed at upskilling individuals and educators to enable them to embrace the emerging sector.

Mid and East Antrim in Northern Ireland is in a unique position to embrace hydrogen for various reasons. This includes the new gas network infrastructure, which is more hydrogen-ready than the rest of the UK, the abundant wind resource and the gas and electric interconnectors between Northern Ireland (NI) and Great Britain. In addition, the area is home to world-leading companies at the forefront of hydrogen technology, and two power stations looking at transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables.

Karen Hastings, Investment & Place Manager at Mid & East Antrim Borough Council said hydrogen would be the main sectoral focus for her team over the next few years.

We have lost a lot of manufacturing jobs in the area so we looked at how we can target key sectors and grow our economy and how we can look at upskilling and reskilling.

As part of this, the council has been the lead partner in an initiative called the Hydrogen Training Academy, which aims to upskill the workforce through delivery of courses which train delegates to work with hydrogen fuel, and ‘Train the Trainer’ through a Level 5 course aimed at upskilling academics and educators. The project has two bespoke training labs – the H2 Gas Safe Lab aimed at the plumbing and heating industry and the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Skills Lab, giving hands-on education to a range of sectors, including transport, manufacturing, engineering and construction.

The project has received funding from the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund, the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, the Labour Market Partnership and private sponsorship from EPUK, owners of the two Power Stations in NI. The council has also been supported by several delivery partners and a consortium of key stakeholders and sponsors.

The Hydrogen Training Academy started in December 2021 and is currently planned to run until March 2023 as a pilot project. The Level 5 Train the Trainer course has been oversubscribed by 35 per cent to date and is anticipated to be oversubscribed by more than 100 per cent by completion. A range of Level 3 units have been developed and tested with a closed group of trainees, but industry demand is expected to exceed the places available during the overall pilot (60 places across two Level 3 courses). Hastings and her team have managed the pilot by coordinating the partners and workstreams, ensuring milestone deliveries are met and are now looking to establish a sustainable model for the future.

Hydrogen is very expensive, and storage costs in particular have been higher than anticipated. There are a lot of additional costs that need to be covered but we have managed to develop the academy so far without financial commitment from council except for our time commitment to the project. We have established really good partnerships with academia and industry and gained a lot of traction.

The council also facilitates networks such as a Manufacturing Task Force where 50 local member companies and stakeholders have identified hydrogen and cleantech as key sectors for sustainable economic growth. It also recently established the Cleantech Collaborative Growth Network to link small and medium-sized businesses with larger organisations, including local bus manufacturer Wrightbus (see box), to enable them to learn from and work with each other on market solutions.

There are good discussions in the network about how they can collaborate on projects and apply for funding.

Hastings added, “They are all learning from each other, which is the beauty of the collaborative approach.”

Hastings said the council would be happy to share its learning or provide virtual tours of the lab to interested parties. The council believes clean energy is something all local authorities could look at, both to help meet its own net zero targets and support industry: “You only have to watch the news to see that we are in a climate emergency. Not only do we all have a responsibility to act, but we also have a chance to embrace the opportunities that this emerging sector presents,” she concluded.

• To find out more about Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s Hydrogen Training Academy contact Karen Hastings: Karen.Hastings@midandeastantrim.gov.uk

• Mid and East Antrim featured in the The Green Agenda segment at the iESE Conference 2022, watch this segment here: www.iese.org.uk/conference-2022