REGIONAL Senedd member Altaf Hussain has hailed the valuable research going on at the University of South Wales Hydrogen Centre at the Baglan Energy Park as a “game changer.”
Welsh Conservative Dr Hussain toured the centre where he was shown how hydrogen is being created there by electrolysis – separating the hydrogen contained in water by using electricity. He was told by the Director of the Centre, Jon Maddy, that they are researching the various technologies to make large scale volumes of the gas and also the many uses to which it can be put including transport . It is likely that larger vehicles like buses and lorries as well as industrial plant will be powered by hydrogen in the future.
Dr Hussain was on a visit to the centre and also the new Bay Technology Centre located nearby. This centre, officially opened recently, is owned by Neath Port Talbot Council and he was welcomed there by Dr Brett Suddell, who is the council’s decarbonisation manager; Simon Brennan, who is head of property and regeneration at the council and Coun Jeremy Hurley, who is the cabinet member for economic growth and climate change.
The Bay Technology Centre is an innovation hub where businesses, start-ups and investors can collaborate in order to create viable new technologies and jobs. Among tenants already in situ is the High Value Manufacturing Catapult which has only just moved in, led by Phil Clements. This will provide support for new companies seeking expertise and finance.
During the visit, there was discussion about Port Talbot’s potential to create new jobs in things like turbine manufacture as well as hydrogen manufacture which will utilise the energy produced by the massive floating offshore windfarm being planned as part of the Celtic Freeport which is based partly at Port Talbot and partly at Milford Haven.
Dr Hussain said: “I have bene blown away by the work that has been going on into hydrogen development led by Jon Maddy who is one of the country’s leading experts in this field. They opened the first hydrogen re-fuelling station in Wales at Baglan using hydrogen produced on site and have also been involved in setting up others elsewhere.
“Port Talbot is literally the only area between Swansea and Cardiff to have enough suitable industrial space available to accommodate these developments – as evidenced by the Baglan Energy Park which has been built on the site of the former BP Chemical plant. Plans have recently been announced for a new factory to manufacture aviation fuel from renewable sources to be developed on a brownfield site in the town. This will create about a hundred new jobs.
“While what’s happening at Tata is a huge worry to not just the workers employed there but the entire area, there are many grounds for hope that these innovative new technologies being pioneered in Port Talbot will in time be able to produce the good quality manufacturing jobs that the area will need.
”I commend NPT Council for having the foresight to develop the Bay Technology Centre which will act as a catalyst for those innovators to have the space and the support they need to develop their ideas and then move onto the next stage of putting them into practice.”