HI-ACT: Hub on Hydrogen Integration for Accelerated Energy Transitions is a £10M EPSRC investment of a multidisciplinary, multi partner UK based research hub that is targeting the critical mission of aligning today’s hydrogen infrastructure with the ambitious Net-Zero targets of 2050. The Hub’s mission is to deliver impactful research through co-creation with stakeholders, which delivers an evidence base for hydrogen integration in the future net zero energy transition. The team is led by Director Professor Sara Walker (University of Birmingham) along with Co-Investigators from Newcastle University, University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, Queens University Belfast, Imperial College London, University of Warwick, University of Manchester, University of Exeter, University College London and Northumbria University.
HI-ACT is focused on addressing the interdependent technical, environmental, social, economic, and regulatory challenges emerged from the integration of hydrogen into the energy system and other economic sectors
As such our objectives are:
– To examine the role, and value, of hydrogen in a net-zero transition
– To identify the contribution which hydrogen can make to energy security and resilience
– To evaluate trade-offs between energy vectors, synergies and conflicts between local and national priorities and uncertainties in the performance and costs of current and future technologies
– To explore the place-based contributions of hydrogen to local energy systems
Lee is currently CEO of Fuel Cell Systems Ltd (FCSL). Industry insiders often talk about Hydrogen’s Chicken and Egg problem: Vehicle manufacturers cannot sell hydrogen vehicles without a refuelling infrastructure; Infrastructure & fuel network providers cannot recoup their investment if there are not enough vehicles using hydrogen. The result is Gridlock! Our approach has been to redefine the Chicken and Egg problem as simply “Refuelling Infrastructure is too expensive”. Now that’s an engineering problem we can fix!
Prior to FCSL, Lee spent eight years at UK Fuel Cell manufacturer Intelligent Energy, completing his time there as Chief Sales Officer. Leading the global commercial team and launching Intelligent Energy’s low carbon hydrogen products in to three market sectors: automotive, power generation and aviation. Lee’s involvement with the hydrogen industry started back in 1995 when among other projects he supported the field trials of SOFC CHP.
