INSIGHTS / News

Latent Drive, developer of ground-breaking technologies to produce abundant and affordable green hydrogen at source, has won a £630k grant under Innovate UK’s Launchpad South West Marine and Maritime competition. This will fund a demonstration trial to fuel a harbour patrol vessel with green hydrogen produced directly from seawater and renewable energy using Latent Drive’s SeaStack technology.

The HydroPort trials are led by Latent Drive, supported by Dorset Council and hosted by Portland Port, in collaboration with Logan Energy, SALINE Business Services and the University of Exeter’s Centre for Future Clean Mobility. They will assess the market potential for SeaStack in decarbonising ports – especially as operators respond to government targets and public demand for evermore offshore renewables.

The sustainable tech company is a member of SETsquared’s Hydrogen & Sustainable Transport Economy Accelerator and the University of Bath’s GW-SHIFT programme and, through these, received introductions to academics at the University of Exeter, identification of the funding opportunity and equity investment support.

SeaStack is the world’s first commercial direct seawater-to-hydrogen electrolyser stack, optimised for installation offshore. It has a wide operating range to capture more wind energy at a low cost and is designed to produce green hydrogen directly from seawater for less than $2/kg. SeaStack is designed for use on harbour walls, offshore wind turbines, and floating platforms to make the best use of energy supplies and refuelling sites.

The Dorset coast has huge potential to become a leading renewables supercluster, with a growing pipeline of planned projects. This includes the 10 February PortWind agreement with IKEA-backed renewables developer, Source Galileo, for up to 2 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity – enough to power around 3 million UK homes. The area also offers significant hydrogen storage capacity in underground salt caverns on a sufficient scale for refuelling transatlantic shipping. To reach Net Zero by 2050, it is estimated that 60 million tonnes of green hydrogen will be required annually for marine fuels[1].

Frazer Ely, CEO and Founder of Latent Drive, said: “Huge thanks to our own team and the wider HydroPort consortium for beating tough competition to win this substantial grant from Innovate UK. We are grateful for this ongoing government support which will help to demonstrate how our SeaStack electrolyser can revolutionise clean hydrogen production, location and economics – without expensive desalination or rare metals – in a global market projected to be worth $642 billion by 2030[2].”

This latest funding follows a range of previous government-backed grants totalling £2.5m, including a share of £500k from the Net Zero Technology Centre in October 2024. Latent Drive has also just launched a £2.25 million investment round, including a £250k Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme allowance.

[1] International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA): World Energy Transitions Outlook
[2] Deloitte: Green hydrogen – Energizing the path to net zero