The HS2 Victoria Road Crossover Box site in West London is a hive of activity. Cranes, heavy machinery and workers in orange overalls are busy milling around underneath a vast metal conveyor system used to remove spoils.

Inside the site, however, it鈥檚 hard at first to notice the two humming white shipping containers, which are providing the site鈥檚 power needs and which some say provide a vision of emissions-free construction of the future.

GeoPura HPUs deployed at the HS2 site. Photo: GeoPura

The idea is simple enough: Hydrogen is being fed from a row of cylinders outside into the container where it is mixed with oxygen in the air to form electricity in a fuel cell. From there the current flows into a series of inverters and transformers where the voltage is increased so it can be used to power the heavy machinery used to excavate the train tunnel box.

Hydrogen has long been touted as the fuel of the future and a key component of the energy transition. The most abundant chemical element in the universe, it contains about three times as much energy as petrol and, when burnt it emits no carbon emissions at all, just water. Over the past decade, these facts have spawned an array of start-ups aimed at decarbonizing industries ranging from aviation to manufacturing steel.

Potential applications for the construction industry abound too. As well as the hydrogen fuel cells being used in place of diesel generators on sites, manufacturers are also pushing hydrogen combustion gensets, construction vehicles and machinery with dedicated H2 or fuel agnostic internal combustion engines and even hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered off-highway machinery.

Part of the energy transition

鈥淚f you look at the bigger strategic picture of the energy transition, we want to keep the lights on,鈥� says Matt Barney, chief hydrogen business officer at GeoPura, the company which made the H2 generators used at the Victoria Road site. 鈥淲e want to continue to live the lives that we鈥檝e become accustomed to, and those are based on enormous amounts of fuel.鈥�

鈥淯ltimately, if we鈥檙e going to wean ourselves off fossil fuels then zero emissions fuels have to play a part in that spectrum,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲e need to start supporting more energy hungry applications, whether that be in construction or for data centres, and so we need a fuel as part of that mix. We know that it鈥檚 coming and so we鈥檝e come up with a commercial model where we鈥檙e able to roll out real services with zero emissions fuel technologies to real customers who are willing to pay for those services.鈥�

GeoPura, which was launched in 2019 with partner Siemens Energy Ventures, manufactures its own hydrogen at three sites in the UK using renewable energy. The company then transports the fuel to use in its hydrogen power unit (HPU) gensets which are rented out on building sites, at live events and on TV and film sets around the country.

As well as the HS2 teams at the Victoria Road Crossover Box site, GeoPura boxes are also stationed on two more HS2 sites in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, while other construction customers also include National Grid, BAM Nuttall and Balfour Beatty.

Matt Barney, chief hydrogen business officer at GeoPura. Photo: GeoPura

In February, the company secured 拢56 million (US$71 million) in a funding round supported by investors including the UK Infrastructure Bank and Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital. And in September, the company raised another 拢22 million ($28 million) in debt funding.

GeoPura says it plans to use the money to grow its fleet of HPUs to 3,600 by 2033 and to invest in its green hydrogen production facilities.

鈥淯ltimately we鈥檙e interested in the scalability of the business,鈥� says Barney. 鈥淲e鈥檙e interested in how we get from the really steppingstone baby steps we鈥檙e still taking and building on that commercial model to start to fill that gap to do even more. We鈥檙e hardly scratching the surface really.鈥�

And GeoPura is just one of a growing number of companies producing hydrogen generators aimed at construction and other industries.

France-based EODev, a spin off from the Energy Observer floating laboratory, the world鈥檚 first vessel capable of producing decarbonized hydrogen from sea water, is one of the most well-known. Customers purchasing its GEH2 gensets include United Rentals, Loxam and Kennards Hire.

Another H2 genset developer, UK-based AFC Energy, said last year it had 拢27 million worth of orders for its 30kW power units on its books including orders from global contractor Acciona, a sales agreement with Middle Eastern heavy industry distributer TAMGO and supply arrangements for its 50/50 joint venture with Speedy Hire.

Mainstream OEMs too have been trying to get in on the action.

Hydrogen gensets used for construction

Yanmar Energy Systems started taking orders for its hydrogen fuel cell power generation system in September. Hitachi Energy announced last year that it had teamed up with PowerCell Group to develop a new Hyflex hydrogen fuel cell genset. And Caterpillar recently collaborated with Microsoft and Ballard Power Systems to demonstrate the viability of using hydrogen fuel cells to supply power backup for data centres.

Currently GeoPura says it produces about six tonnes of 鈥榞reen鈥� hydrogen a week in total from its sites in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire which it delivers via a fleet of 80 tankers. GeoPura says it has a 鈥済reat relationship鈥� with a number of rental companies but is unable to disclose any names due to non-disclosure agreements.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got aspirations to have more sites around the country,鈥� says Barney. 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to see a whole network of small-scale electrolysers in the short to medium term. But we鈥檙e very much aware of what other players are doing in this space as well with much larger projects. There鈥檚 some brilliant stuff going on at the greater end of the scale. But for the short term, we鈥檙e able to wash our own face and meet our own supply needs to the degree that we鈥檙e currently producing a little bit more than we require so we鈥檙e able to make that available to others.鈥�

Yet for many hydrogen power start-ups, getting projects off the ground is proving more difficult than investors initially hoped.

United Rentals stocks hydrogen powered zero emissions EODev generators. Photo: United Rentals

Several high-profile projects aimed at producing 鈥榞reen鈥� hydrogen and using it to decarbonise heavy industries, shipping and aviation folded in 2024 citing rising costs, uncertain demand and a lack of government subsidies. These include Berlin-based green hydrogen start-up HH2E, several divisions of Norwegian hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer Teco 2030 and US-based Universal Hydrogen.

And in 2023, the International Energy Agency reduced its estimate of how much 鈥榗lean鈥� hydrogen companies around the world will be able to produce over the next five years by 35% compared with its 2022 estimate.

One of the key problems has been that firms have been reluctant to build hydrogen producing capacity because they are unsure how many customers they can sell to, while customers are unwilling to convert their machines to run on hydrogen because they cannot be certain there will be enough supply.

GeoPura says it gets around this conundrum by producing its own green hydrogen at three UK sites and delivering it to fuel its own generators which it rents out building sites, TV and film sets and even for temporary use at power stations.

鈥淲e have an energy as a service model,鈥� says Barney. 鈥淭he headache is removed in terms of the supply chain because we鈥檙e producing the hydrogen and then we as a company are also transporting that hydrogen to our hydrogen power units. GeoPura does everything and, as a customer, all you get is scalable and ultimately limitless quantities of electricity because you can keep adding more and more units to get the power requirement you need at your site.鈥�

Barriers remain

But barriers still remain. Barney says that the cost of running a diesel generator on a construction site currently works out at around 拢1.60 ($2.04) a litre while the equivalent cost for a hydrogen power unit currently stands at 拢2.32 ($2.96). And that鈥檚 before you start to include the cost of renting the hydrogen power unit which Barney says is based on the power needs of each site.

Nonetheless, Barney says momentum is slowly building for hydrogen fuel in general and for hydrogen gensets in particular.

鈥淥ne hundred years ago there were no gas stations in this country. But within a very short period of time, there was a petrol station on virtually every corner in every street, every community. There was a tipping point that came where people needed that energy requirement,鈥� Barney says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e found a model that we can commercialise that gives us that foothold to start building that infrastructure and the supply chain to close those gaps.鈥�