GeoPura Receives £36M for Green Hydrogen
GeoPura, the U.K.-based leader in green hydrogen power, has raised a new round of funding to advance its green hydrogen production and power generation solutions.
GeoPura has announced £36 million in funding from leading strategic and financial investors to accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of its Hydrogen Power Units (HPU) across the U.K.
Hydrogen Power Unit. Image used courtesy of GeoPura
GeoPura’s HPUs use fuel cell technology to produce electricity solely from green hydrogen. The company makes its green hydrogen from renewable sources like wind and solar, and its HPUs are emission-free, producing only water as a by-product.
Working closely with strategic partner Siemens Energy, GeoPura will expand the production of its zero-emission HPUs to replace traditional diesel-powered generators in “off-grid” applications like construction sites, remote infrastructure, outdoor events, and grid backup power. The company’s HPUs can also be used as an alternative to grid power for commercial EV charging services.
GM Ventures, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, SWEN CP through its fund SWEN Impact Fund for Transition 2, and Siemens Energy Ventures are participating in this latest round.
Replacing Diesel Generators
Diesel generators are currently the primary power source for most supplementary, off-grid, and backup power applications. Operating from hubs in Nottingham and Newcastle, U.K., GeoPura aims to replace traditional diesel generators with its zero-emission HPUs powered only by green hydrogen.
According to research from Goldman Sachs, green hydrogen fuels are widely recognized as essential to meeting global emission goals and are projected to supply up to 25% of energy demand by 2050.
Despite the promise of the technology, GeoPura CEO Andrew Cunningham acknowledges that hydrogen-based power is often viewed as a solution for the future. But his company plans to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen as a commercially viable, zero-emission power generation solution for modern economies.
The impacts are potentially significant as the company estimates that over the operating life of a single HPU, up to 1,800 tons of carbon emissions can be avoided compared to electricity generated from a diesel generator.
GeoPura intends to deploy more than 3,600 HPUs by 2033, displacing more than 6 million tons of carbon emissions over their combined operating life.
Producing Green Hydrogen
The green hydrogen energy cycle is a multi-step process. The first of these steps is generating hydrogen through the electrolysis of water (H2O) using electricity from carbon-free power sources like wind, solar, hydro, or nuclear. The electrolysis process separates the hydrogen and oxygen in the water into gasses, and the hydrogen is stored in tanks.
The green hydrogen can then be transported to HPU generator sites as needed to support local power generation needs–grid backup power, construction sites, commercial EV power, etc.
Using electricity from solar power to produce green hydrogen. Image used courtesy of GeoPura
Fuel Cells
The energy stored in hydrogen can be converted back to electricity as needed and at the desired location through fuel cell technology. The only by-product from the fuel cell process is water (H2O).
For the operation of GeoPura’s HPUs, hydrogen and air are injected into the fuel cells, where they are recombined into water in a process that releases stored energy as usable electricity. Within the fuel cell, a catalyst separates the protons and electrons in the hydrogen for transport through the electrolyte to the cathode, producing electron flow, or current.
When the electricity used to generate the hydrogen is carbon-free, the entire energy cycle, from production to use, is carbon-free.
Fuel cell electricity generation from hydrogen and oxygen. Image used courtesy of GeoPura
Hydrogen Power Unit
Each GeoPura HPU provides 250kVA (250kW) of standard three-phase, 400V critical off-grid power backed up by a 216kWh battery system. The fuel cell generators are contained within a 20-foot portable shipping container, and multiple units can be combined to scale to power levels as high as 2MW.
HPUs can also be provided with charging posts to support temporary, remote, or even permanent EV fast charging services independent of the grid.
Hydrogen Fuels for E-mobility
GeoPura and its strategic partners are targeting off-grid power generation applications for their green hydrogen solutions. But it is easy to see how this technology translates to use in high-volume e-mobility applications like EVs and other platforms.
As the technology matures and prices become more competitive, green hydrogen could emerge as an attractive alternative to EV batteries and the charging infrastructure needed to support them as a primary energy source for EVs. The resulting impact on global carbon emissions could be even more significant.
