Contract & Hydrogen Bus Refuelling Stations Update

RNS Number : 0871H

ITM Power PLC

05 June 2017

 

5 June 2017

ITM Power plc

("ITM Power" or the "Company")

Contract and Hydrogen Bus Refuelling Stations Update

ITM Power (AIM: ITM), the energy storage and clean fuel company, announces an update on its contract position and its activities in the rapidly developing market for refuelling fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs).

Contract Position

The Company currently has £23.02m of projects under contract and a further £4.16m of contracts in the final stages of negotiation constituting a total pipeline of £27.18m, an increase of £2.82m since the last announcement on 18 April.

FCEB Market

In this market, ITM Power has:

·     Partnered in NewBusFuel which this week published the positive FCEB business case

·     Secured £5.5m for its first FCEB refueller in Birmingham; which ITM Power will build, own and operate

·     Signed project development agreements with three UK bus operators

·     Signed business development agreements with two international bus operators

·     Been selected as the preferred supplier for two further major bus projects

·     Conducted detailed surveys on eight potential refuellers at bus depots in major UK and EU cities

·     Engaged in detailed discussions with five FCEB OEMs on refuelling requirements

The Birmingham HRS, JIVE and MEHRLIN

JIVE (Joint Initiative for Hydrogen Vehicles across Europe) is Europe's largest zero-emission hydrogen bus project. This FCH JU funded initiative was launched on 25 January 2017 and the €125m scheme is set to deliver 144 hydrogen fuel cell buses and associated refuelling infrastructure in nine cities and regions across Europe. The buses will be deployed in five European countries: in the UK, they will take to the roads in London, Birmingham and Aberdeen. The value of ITM Power's first award in this exciting new market is £5.5m to supply the Birmingham hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) including £3.5m, funded by InnovateUK  (already announced on 3 April 2017) to build, own and operate a 3MW grid balancing electrolyser and a further £2m to supply the refuelling equipment.

The MEHRLIN (Models for Economic Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastructure) project aims to demonstrate a new demand-led commercial model for the deployment of HRS. Co-funded by the European Commission's Connecting Europe Facility (Transport) programme, this involves a study of the real-life operation of large-scale hydrogen stations in seven European locations, including stations in London and the ITM Power HRS in Birmingham.

UK Hydrogen Bus Procurement

Transport for London (TfL) has launched a tender for the bulk procurement of hydrogen fuel cell buses. Working in partnership with the cities of Aberdeen and Birmingham, TfL is inviting potential suppliers of fuel cell buses to join a framework for the supply of single and double decker vehicles to cities across the UK and potentially further afield. The supply chain for FCEB is maturing with many OEMs entering the market, including: Van Hool, New Flyer, Man, Solaris, VDL, Wrightbus, Skoda, Proterra, APTS, Hyundai, Toyota, EvoBus (Daimler) and Ursus.

Hydrogen Bus Procurement elsewhere in Europe

A joint procurement exercise for fuel cell buses in Germany and northern Italy was launched in May 2017. This is being led by WSW mobil GmbH (Wuppertal) and covers 63 fuel cell buses for operation in public transport. WSW is coordinating the joint procurement for its partners Verkehrs-Verbund Mainz-Wiesbaden GmbH, traffiQ Frankfurt, Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH in Germany and SASA SpA-AG in Bolzano, Italy, which will operate these buses.

The Business Case for FCEB

The NewBusFuel project, funded by the FCH JU, of which ITM Power is a partner, demonstrates that hydrogen refuelling at a large scale is technically and economically viable for hydrogen fuel cell electric bus fleets. The final report "New Bus ReFuelling for European Hydrogen Bus Depots: High-Level Techno-Economic Project Summary Report" was published online this week by the NewBusFuel consortium and is available at [link]. The study outputs are useful to any organisations planning to introduce hydrogen fuel cell buses into everyday transport service operations.

Inner City Air quality is a major new driving force for FCEB deployment

Air pollution is a major contributor to poor health in the UK. Experts argue that for decades the issue has been under-reported and the UK Government recently lost two court cases over air quality. Car makers were found to be cheating tests on vehicle emissions and a series of court cases are now underway. Diesel-fuelled vehicles are much more polluting than petrol vehicles, and the largest proportion of pollution in UK cities comes from road transport. In Greater London, where the statistics are the most detailed, studies show that private diesel cars contribute 11% of NOx emissions. There are many other sources of pollution, including buses, taxis, industry and building sites. According to Roger Harrabin, BBC environment analyst: "The best value for money comes from targeting the really big individual polluters - that's old buses and lorries in cities. Most big cities are already doing that, although critics say not fast enough."

Air Quality in London

On 30 November 2016 Sadiq Khan, London's Mayor, unveiled the world's first double-decker hydrogen bus, as he committed to phasing out purchasing new pure 'dirty' diesel buses for the capital. He revealed that no more pure diesel double-deck buses will be added to the capital's fleet from 2018 and that all new single-decks for central London will be zero-emission.

On 17 February 2017 the London Mayor also introduced the £10 'Toxicity Charge' for the most polluting cars which starts on 23 October this year. The T-charge (also known as the Emissions Surcharge) will operate on top of, and during the same operating times, as the Congestion Charge (Monday to Friday 7am-6pm), so it will cost £21.50 to drive a pre-Euro 4 vehicle in the zone.

ITM Power CEO, Dr. Graham Cooley, said: "The international Hydrogen Bus market is becoming very exciting for ITM Power. Because buses use a depot refuelling model the fuel revenues are bankable and with 10 buses using 1MW of electrolyser demand per day, the market for our equipment is therefore very large given the number of hydrogen buses funded in Europe alone."

For further information please visit www.itm-power.com or contact:

ITM Power plc Graham Cooley, CEO	[phone]
Zeus Capital Andrew Jones / Hugh Kingsmill Moore	[phone]
Tavistock Communications Simon Hudson / James Collins	[phone]

About ITM Power plc

ITM Power manufactures integrated hydrogen energy solutions which are rapid response and high pressure that meet the requirements for grid balancing and energy storage services, and for the production of clean fuel for transport, renewable heat and chemicals.  ITM Power plc was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2004 and is a founder member of the Social Stock Exchange. The company received £4.9m as a strategic investment from JCB in March 2015; signed a forecourt siting agreement with Shell in September 2015 and a fuel agreement with Toyota in October 2015. The Company currently has £23.02m of projects under contract and a further £4.16m of contracts in the final stages of negotiation constituting a total pipeline of £27.18m (subject to exchange rate variation).

www.itm-power.com

About FCH JU

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) is a unique public private partnership supporting research, technological development and demonstration activities in fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies in Europe. Its aim is to accelerate the market introduction of these technologies, realising their potential as an instrument in achieving a carbon-lean energy system. The three members of the FCH JU are the European Commission, fuel cell and hydrogen industries represented by the NEW Industry Grouping and the research community represented by Research Grouping N.ERGHY.

About InnovateUK:

Innovate UK is the UK's innovation agency; working with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. The organisation 
works to determine which science and technology developments will drive future economic growth; meet UK innovators with great ideas in the fields we're focused on funding the strongest opportunities; connecting innovators with the right partners they need to succeed, helping our innovators launch, build and grow successful businesses. Since 2007 we have invested over £1.5 billion in innovation, matched by a further £1.5 billion in partner and business funding. We have helped more than 5,000 innovative companies in projects estimated to add £7.5 billion to the UK economy and create 35,000 extra new jobs.

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