£85m funding boost announced for green energy firm

Hundreds of new technology jobs will be created following an £85m investment in a South Yorkshire factory.

Great British Energy, the UK's publicly owned energy company, and the government are investing in a hydrogen project at ITM Power in Sheffield.

The project, which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, will create 400 new jobs.

ITM has received £40m from Great British Energy alongside a £46.5m government grant to deliver the expansion of hydrogen technology manufacturing in the UK.

The factory manufactures electrolysers, which are used in the production of green hydrogen

The method is considered more environmentally friendly than other processes which involve stripping hydrogen out of natural gases which can in turn release CO2 into the atmosphere.

Green hydrogen is essential to achieving net zero, enabling the decarbonisation of hard to electrify sectors, such as heavy industry, aviation and shipping.

The Great British Energy funding is their single largest investment to date.

Chief Technology Officer for ITM Power Simon Bourne said the funding was a "huge vote of confidence" from the UK government in the technology and meant the company could scale up faster than they otherwise would have been able to.

He said: "We're in a growth phase right now and this commitment secures the existing jobs that we have of around 300 employees and over the next years, we expect around 400 new good, skilled local jobs to be created in this crucial emerging industry."

ITM Power, which currently has two factories on Shepcote Lane in Sheffield, has been based in the city for over 20 years after originally starting in a laboratory on the site of the former Sheffield airport.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: "This investment is the government's clean energy mission in action - rebuilding our energy security with clean homegrown power and good industrial jobs for South Yorkshire.

"Communities have long been calling out for a new generation of good industrial jobs, and with these plans we answer that call, helping to create an economy in which there is no need to leave your hometown just to find a decent job."

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