BP and Rio Tinto form Hydrogen Energy joint venture

BP and Rio Tinto have formed a joint venture, Hydrogen Energy, to develop hydrogen technology for producing power.

Rio will pay $32 million to BP to form the equally owned venture, which includes two planned BP hydrogen-fuel projects in Scotland and California. Hydrogen Energy will be based in Weybridge, in southeastern England, and led by Chief Executive Officer Lewis Gillies, the former head of BP's hydrogen-power business. Its chief financial officer will be Peter Cunningham, formerly the head of business evaluation at Rio.

BP has spent two years developing an industrial-scale, 475- megawatt power plant in Peterhead, Scotland, that uses natural gas as a feedstock. The plant will separate hydrogen, which will be used to make clean power, from carbon dioxide, which will be piped to the North Sea and buried in an oil field 2.5 miles below the seabed. The Peterhead project has completed its engineering design work and is awaiting a decision on financial support from the U.K. government, BP said. If a decision to proceed with the project is made next year, it could start operation in 2011.

BP has also announced plans for a second experimental plant at its Carson refinery in California, where it will make hydrogen from coke, a low-value refinery byproduct. The California project could be operational by the end of 2012 “subject to the successful outcome of engineering studies and appropriate policy being in place”, BP said.

Source: Fuel Cell Today