British construction equipment making firm JCB has signed a multibillion-pound contract with Australian company Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) to buy green hydrogen generated from fossil fuel-based sources. Under this agreement, JCB will purchase 10 per cent of FFI’s green hydrogen production, reported BBC.FFI which is the renewables subsidiary of mining giant Fortescue Metals Group expects that the deal is going to help it become the largest supplier of clean fuel in the UK. The Fortescue Metals Group is owned by billionaire Andrew Forrest.
As part of the deal which is expected to come into effect from early next year, FFI will produce green hydrogen, mostly outside the UK, and JCB along with a firm called Ryze Hydrogen will then distribute it in the country. The companies, however, refrained from mentioning the exact amount involved in the deal.
Speaking about the development, JCB’s chairman Lord Anthony Bamford said that the partnership will help the company to make hydrogen a viable option solution for people. Adding that Hydrogen doesn’t produce carbon emission when burned,Bamford called it a likely replacement for fossil fuels even in heavy industries like steel, shipping and cement making.
He urged the government to invest in hydrogen-fueled forms of transportation like aircraft, buses and trains.
“It’s fine having an engine powered by green hydrogen, but no good if customers can’t get green hydrogen to fuel their machines.,” said Lord Bamford in the official statement.
Ryze Hydrogen, the third partner in the deal, is co-founded by Lord Bamford’s entrepreneur son Jo Bamford and is also involved in building the UK’s first network of green hydrogen production plants.
JCB, earlier this month, had announced that it is going to spend 100 million Euros on a project to produce “super-efficient hydrogen engines” to power its machinery. The firm said that it already has a team of 100 engineers working on the project and that it is going to recruit 50 more in the effort to make the first machine available by 2022 end.
In recent years, green hydrogenhas been identified as the clean energy source that could help bring the world to net-zero emissions.
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