FOI2021/00117: Rotherham Hydrogen Mini Grid
Case reference FOI2021/00117
Published 24 June 2021
Request
Request Received: 25 February 2021
I see that Innovate UK are co-funding the Hydrogen vehicle fuel system at Rotherham EETC: Hydrogen Mini Grid, Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) Morse Way, off Brunel Way Catcliffe Rotherham S60 5WG
Can to advise how much has been disbursed to date by Innovate UK on this project - including grants and service provision to the operators ITC ?
Can you also advise if any performance reports have been generated with respect to amounts of Hydrogen formed on site, number of filling operations performed and sundry energy provided on site for non-vehicular use?
UKRI asked for clarification as follows:
Could you please confirm the dates of the funding from Innovate UK, explain which company or organisation received the funding and clarify what is meant by service provision to the operators ITC. Please could you also indicate if this information is available on Innovate UK webpages.
Clarified: 26 February 2021
"Could you please confirm the dates of the funding from Innovate UK"
I would like to know how much funding Innovate UK has contributed in total to the Hydrogen Mini Grid Project at Rotherham Advanced Manufacturing Park EETC since its inception - which seems to be 2007 and runs to the present time.
As far as "service provision" at the filling station is concerned ITC seemingly physically operate the filling station / compressors/ storage and metering facility - I would like to know if ITC are paid a fee (by Innovate UK) for operating the facility or do they self-fund via charges for Hydrogen dispensed?
With respect to Innovate UK web pages - Google find no reference to the Rotherham Hydrogen Mini Grid at the AMP site. try: ttps://www.google.com/search?q=hydrogen+mini+grid&as_sitesearch=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisatio ns/innovate-uk
In fact a simple search for "Hydrogen" shows not much on the www.gov.uk domain.
I have also looked at the 15MB spreadsheet of projects since 2004 and cannot see a reference to the EETC site / Hydrogen filling station at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/960302/202102 01_Innovate_UK_Funded_Projects.xlsx
Response
Response Sent: 31 March 2021
Under Section 21 - Information already reasonably accessible, of the FOIA some of the information you have requested is already available in the public domain.
Section 21 is an absolute exemption which means that there is no requirement to conduct a public interest test.
Please find attached the relevant data relating to the project that can be found in rows 29929 - 29939 as provided in the transparency dataset. The data we are providing has been filtered for project 101292 (related to hydrogen fuel cells) only and has been taken from publicly available information covering all awards and all participants from 2004 to February 2021. The transparency data is publicly available at: Innovate UK funded projects since 2004 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
With regards to 'service provision', Innovate UK does not receive or charge a fee for operating the facility, therefore this information is not held.
Innovate UK does not hold any information relevant to your question, "if any performance reports have been generated with respect to amounts of Hydrogen formed on site, number of filling operations performed, and sundry energy provided on site for non-vehicular use." The information you have requested is not held within the monitoring reports for the project.
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