National Highways has opened procurement for supply of hydrogen over the five-year construction period of the new Thames Crossing linking Essex and Kent, in a bid to reduce the carbon footprint of constructing the road tunnel.
The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) aims to alleviate congestion on the Dartford Crossing, part of the M25. National Highways wants to make it a “pathfinder project that will explore carbon neutral construction”. It says ‘low carbon hydrogen’ is a key element in delivering LTC’s carbon reduction targets, with a key objective being to significantly reduce use of diesel, replacing it with hydrogen powered plant, machinery and generators. It says, “Making hydrogen easily available could displace over one third of the diesel forecast to be used during construction”.
As a result National Highways has opened procurement that covers supply of up to 5,900t of low carbon hydrogen over five years, with delivery and storage on site as required. It expects the contract to begin in mid 2025 with supply of hydrogen commencing in 2027. The estimated total value is in the range £30-80 million. National Highways said the broad range is because the project depends on “a number of factors including the price and availability of low carbon hydrogen during the project, as well as other variables including amongst other things the availability and prevalence of hydrogen fueled plant and technology.”
This is the second time the company has engaged in a procurement process for the supply of low carbon yydrogen over the last year. It said in the previous procurement it had been unable to identify a candidate which was able to fully meet its requirements.