A joint bid for funding in order to develop a low carbon hydrogen supply to the Port of Immingham, the UK's largest port by tonnage, has been submitted to the Clean Maritime Fund. 

Associated British Ports, Uniper, Siemens Energy and Toyota Tsusho have already completed a joint study which showed that the availability of low carbon fuels in ports can provide a real opportunity to decarbonise the maritime sector. If their bid is successful then the four companies will match the funding and undertake a full feasibility study for this project.

The study would look at both the technical and the economical feasibility of reducing the port's greenhouse gas emissions by using hydrogen and will develop a scalable decarbonisation solution capable of being replicated in other ports around the world. 

Immingham is apparently ideally placed for the study due to the existing infrastructure in the area, Uniper own the local Killingholme power station which is a potential location for an electrolyser to produce the hydrogen. The power for the electrolysis can potentially be produced by the offshore wind farms nearby, making the entire system as green as possible.

This is an exciting development in the review of the infrastructure required to decarbonise the maritime sector, without the infrastructure being in place the vessels calling in the ports cannot obtain the green fuels required. On top of this, the ability to power the port itself using green energy would further help the maritime industry as a whole reduce it's emissions and, if successful would pave the way for other ports, not only in the UK but around the world, to go green.