PLANS to build “one of the largest low carbon hydrogen facilities in the UK” on a Bradford site have officially been submitted by a green energy partnership.

The former Birkshall gas holder site off Peace Street has been earmarked as the location for a groundbreaking new fuelling station that would use hydrogen to refuel vehicles, and it could power up to 800 buses a day.

Bradford Low Carbon Hydrogen Limited, a partnership between Hygen Energy Limited and N-Gen UK, has submitted a planning application for a hydrogen production facility and hydrogen refuelling station at the site.

The application, which has just been submitted to Bradford Council, says the facility will be a first for the district, and one of the first centres of its kind in the country.

The project will be partly funded by the Government, and the applicants say it will be a major boost to efforts to shift the motor industry away from fossil fuels.

The site has provided gas to the people of Bradford for over 100 years, but the gas holders at the site have recently been removed. Last Summer, the site was levelled off in preparation for the development.

The application will also include electrolysers, hydrogen storage, and transformers, as well as new access for vehicles.

It says: “The Bradford Low Carbon Hydrogen Project would be a first of its kind facility for the City of Bradford and one of the largest low carbon hydrogen facilities in the UK, generating up to approximately 14 tonnes of low carbon hydrogen per day – enough to power approximately 800 buses.

“The hydrogen would be used by the adjoining refuelling facility, which would serve hydrogen fuel cell vehicles such as cars and buses and also tube trailers for onward transport to more distant end users.

“The principle of low carbon hydrogen as a vehicle fuel and for industry is strongly supported by planning and energy policy.

“There is an urgent need for the decarbonisation of the difficult to abate sectors of transport and industry in the UK in order to tackle climate change all of which is enshrined within Government energy and climate change policy.

“As set out in the Government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution and British Energy Security Strategy, the Government is aiming for 10 gigawatts (‘GW’) of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for use across the economy.

“The Ten Point Plan highlights how 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production by 2030 could see the UK benefit from around 8,000 jobs across its industrial heartlands.”

Plans say there will be six full time staff based on the site.

A decision on the application is expected in March.