Following the news that Ecoisland Partnership CIC is heading towards voluntary liquidation, it’s good to hear that that one particular ‘Eco Island’ project won’t be affected.
ITM Power got in touch with OnTheWight yesterday to confirm the ‘EcoIsland Hydrogen Vehicle project’ will still going ahead despite the CIC’s liquidation. The project had attracted a whopping £4.45m in total from the Technology Strategy Board.
Roadshow funds to be reallocated
Charles Purkess from ITM Power plc explained that the CIC’s role in the project was simply to run a roadshow, for which they were allocated just under £50,000. To date Ecoisland CIC have only claimed around £5,800 of costs.
He tells us that the remaining allocation of funds will be distributed amongst the remaining partners.
Statement on current position
The following statement was released by ITM Power in response to Tuesday’s news that Ecoisland CIC will be going into voluntary liquidation.
For those unaware of the project, it provides further information, including the detail that another Isle of Wight company, Ventnor-based boatbuilder Cheetah Marine, is also involved.
ITM Power plc (ITM), the energy storage and clean fuel company, is leading the EcoIsland Hydrogen Vehicle Refueller, a project supported by the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board. The £4.45m project will build and integrate into the power system, a hydrogen energy storage and vehicle refuelling system on the Isle of Wight.
“The three year project is now coming to the end of its first year. The project is on time and on budget with the following achievements in year 1:
• ITM Power have concluded the design of a modular 80kg/day hydrogen generation unit, the first deployment of a station this size which the Company intends to use for the roll-out of hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK in the H2Mobility project. This modular design allows generation capacity to be increased at refuelling stations as demand increases. Key components are ordered and build is underway and on track.
• ITM Power and SSE have surveyed a number of sites on the Isle of Wight, identifying four potential locations owned by SGN, SSE, Vestas and MJH Developments for the 80kg/day refuelling station. Planning applications have been submitted for all four sites, and approval has been received for one of these sites. ITM Power are seeking approval from all four sites.
• ITM Power and Cheetah Marine have applied for planning permission for the marine refuelling system at Cheetah Marine’s site in Ventnor, Isle of Wight.
• ITM Power has successfully converted a Honda 135 Outboard motor to dual fuel hydrogen/petrol operation for use on a catamaran designed and built by Cheetah Marine. Cheetah Marine boat build is underway.
• IBM has developed a user interface for the refuelling system.
The project is proceeding well with delivery of the refuelling units anticipated in spring 2014 for the 12 month trial to start in autumn 2014.
It has recently been announced that EcoIsland CIC has entered liquidation. EcoIsland CIC’s role in the project was to organise and run a fuel cell electric vehicle (“FCEV”) road show for which they were allocated £49,475 of project costs, £23,500 in grant, of which £5,800 has been claimed to date.
ITM Power and the consortium will now reallocate the remaining grant and activities within the existing consortium.
Partner Responsibilities:
The project will design, build, install and operate two grid-connected hydrogen refuelling platforms on the Isle of Wight, with 80kg/day and 15kg/day capacities for the operation of a fleet of hydrogen vehicles including vehicles from Hyundai, Microcab and converted Ford Transit vans. Vehicles showcased will include FCEV cars, hydrogen internal combustion engine (“HICE”) vans and a HICE
boat.ITM Power will design and build two refuellers and take a key role in the system integration.
SSE is providing the grid connection to utilise the island’s renewables and will utilise the refueller and vehicles in the final year demonstration.
Toshiba will ensure compatibility of the hydrogen system with its Energy Management System and the Distribution Network Operator (“DNO”) networks – enabling it to actively participate in the energy balancing of the distribution network in future.
IBM will develop a user interface to allow smart card payments facilities to the refuellers to meter and monitor hydrogen provision. Vodafone will provide communications to allow remote monitoring of both refueller and vehicles and allow data collection and data cloud integration.
National Physical Laboratory will develop hydrogen purity tests to ensure compliance with FCEV requirements (ISO14687-2).
Arcola Energy will develop an educational and dissemination package and will provide public and commercial engagement activities, and will operate the hydrogen car club. With ITM Power they will organise and run a FCEV road show with ride and drive.
Cheetah Marine will build a hydrogen catamaran in conjunction with ITM Power and operate it in validation trials.
The University of Nottingham and The University of South Wales will evaluate the performance and operating characteristics of the refuelling stations and use their own ITM Power electrolyser fed refuelling stations for the generation of refuelling strategies to optimise the efficiency of operation.
