Bristol Airport in the UK has joined a local consortium that will assess how infrastructure can be created for hydrogen to succeed as a source of zero-carbon fuel in the future.
Hosted as part of the Festival of Clean Aviation Growth, the roundtable event focused on the development of an ecosystem for hydrogen in the region – not just in the rail, road, maritime and air transportation sectors, but for domestic and commercial power as well.
The consortium will initially comprise Bristol Airport, Bristol Port, Wood, Costain, EDF (UK), Airbus, easyJet, Wales & West Utilities, and the GW4 Alliance of universities.
As part of the collaboration, Wood will deliver a decarbonization roadmap encompassing key regional stakeholders with the view to transform the airport into a pilot site for future aviation technologies. The collaboration reflects the UK government’s ambition to deliver a net-zero domestic aviation sector by 2040 and net-zero international aviation by 2050, as part of its Transport Decarbonisation Plan that was released in July 2021.
Dave Lees, CEO of Bristol Airport, said, “The creation of this consortium to develop an ecosystem for hydrogen in the region is a tangible product of the Aerospace and Aviation Cluster that the Airport has been proud to start up. Not only will it pave the way for our sector in the years ahead, but it will also serve the needs of a multitude of other requirements from running buses to heating homes.”
Katherine Bennett, CBE, chair of the Western Gateway, who gave the keynote address at the event, said, “I am absolutely delighted to see industries from different sectors combining together to address the challenges that face us from both a carbon emissions and economic development point of view. We need to develop the necessary infrastructure for hydrogen and this will stimulate business across the region and create high-skilled new jobs in the process.”