It is one of the most hotly debated questions among environmentalists - is hydrogen the answer to the planet's problems and what is its commercial potential for business?

In this special report John Dean examines the Tees Valley initiatives to harness its power.

THE Tees Valley is pioneering research into potentially the most exciting sustainable business development in history. Work is under way in the area to develop hydrogen as a power source for everything from road signs and buses to homes and office blocks.

Some prototypes are already in operation. This month, a lighthouse at the mouth of the Tees will be converted to hydrogen, and work has started on ideas for substantial power generation on Teesside.

The reason hydrogen is so important is that it could make a significant contribution to solving the world's energy problems in an environmentally-friendly way which avoids the damaging impact of fossil fuels and creates only water as a by-product.

Britain has lagged behind the rest of the world in developing the technology, but now the Tees Valley is taking a lead, with numerous organisations working in partnership, led by regional development agency One NorthEast and Renew Tees Valley, which includes councillors and business representatives who examine ways of developing renewable energy.

Although they are looking at various different technologies, wind and solar among them, hydrogen is arguably the most exciting because it also has the potential to generate the biggest inward investment and thereby create jobs.

Much of the development work in the area is being taken forward by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), at The Wilton Centre, near Redcar, in east Cleveland, and officially launched in May as one of five centres of excellence created by One NorthEast, and Middlesbrough's European Process Industries Competitiveness Centre (EPICC), which was formed by the University of Teesside in 1995.

Companies including Air Products, BOC and SembCorp have been involved in the development work and the CPI has been working closely with universities to establish the opportunities for hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Responsibility for pulling together the various strands of the work has fallen to John Autherson, a former ICI employee who is now director of the Tees Valley Hydrogen Project, which was commissioned by One NorthEast to identify suitable projects.

Mr Autherson, who works from the EPICC offices at the Cleveland Business Centre in the town centre, said: "Britain has been lagging behind in the development of hydrogen technologies but in the Tees Valley, we are trying to show the potential and demonstrate practical projects that can work.

"Teesside already has a number of advantages. It has three chemical sites - Wilton, NorthTees/Seal Sands and Billingham - where companies already use hydrogen as part of their process, so the asset is already there. Four plants generate hydrogen, there are half-a-dozen users, and there is 30km of hydrogen pipework linking the sites. In addition, there is already hydrogen storage capacity in the caverns beneath the Billingham site.

"There are literally thousands of tonnes of hydrogen going through the system and the capacity to increase that."

Tees Valley know-how is central to the plans to develop the technology and Mr Autherson said: "The area has a strong technical base and a workforce which has been handling hydrogen for more than 50 years and is confident about dealing with it."

Another advantage is that the three chemical sites are in the middle of a large connurbation, which means there would be a ready market for commercial/domestic hydrogen use.

Mr Autherson said: "The sites are close to 420,000 people and hence provide an opportunity for early development of hydrogen economy industries in real life situations."

The Department of Trade and Industry has asked to be kept informed about the work and at the end of last month, the Tees Valley team, including Mr Autherson, attended a conference in London, where they delivered a paper to 700 international delegates who came to learn more about the possibilities hydrogen presents. Details of the Tees Valley projects formed part of an exhibition attended by 5,000 visitors from around the world.

Mr Autherson said: "What we are doing is seeking to raise awareness about the potential. This is the way forward to produce energy without creating any carbon dioxide whatsoever, and the Tees Valley is well positioned to develop these technologies and attract inward investment. And although some people say this kind of technology could all take 20 years, some of it is here now and could be operating within the next five years."

Published: 07/10/2003