Hydrogen supplier for Lower Thames Crossing named

British hydrogen innovator GeoPura has been named as the hydrogen supplier for the Lower Thames Crossing project, which includes the UK’s longest road tunnel.

The Lower Thames Crossing will be the first major British infrastructure project to be carbon neutral in construction and a key to that is replacing diesel with hydrogen, electric and other low-carbon fuels.

GeoPura will supply 2,500 tonnes of hydrogen, enough to replace over 12 million litres of diesel and save an estimated 30,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. The hydrogen will be supplied as a managed service, which includes the delivery, storage and distribution to equipment on site during the project’s main construction phase.

Six hydrogen powered generators provided by GeoPura are already at work on the project, charging batteries used in electric machinery on a work site in Essex with zero emissions. A British-made JCB hydrogen fuelled digger became the first deployed outside a test environment anywhere in the world when it was used to carry out survey work on the project in Kent last year.

Lower Thames Crossing executive director Matt Palmer said replacing diesel with UK-produced hydrogen would not only reduce the project’s carbon footprint, but also help clean up the construction sector.

“National Highways is supporting new jobs and skills that will put British businesses and people at the forefront of the growing clean energy sector,” he said.

Founded in 2019, GeoPura produces green hydrogen in several locations in the UK via electrolysis powered by locally sourced renewable electricity.

GeoPura CEO Andrew Cunningham said the company was proud to be supplying the largest volume of green hydrogen ever contracted for a British construction project.

“I congratulate the Lower Thames Crossing for setting a powerful example of how major infrastructure can be delivered sustainably. This contract award further strengthens the British hydrogen supply chain driving both price efficiency and British jobs across this new, exciting industry with tangible deployments,” he said.

Bouygues Travaux Publics Murphy Joint Venture will build the more than 4km-long tunnel. In December last year it launched the tender for the TBM, which will be one of the largest in the world.