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Success stories
Mott MacDonald Helping to put hydrogen on the European clean energy map
Prem Mahi, Technical Excellence Director – Energy
How is Mott MacDonald thriving? Having already proven itself as an early backer of new technologies when it picked up a significant market share in carbon capture more than a decade ago, Mott MacDonald continues to place its faith in solutions designed to advance the journey to net zero by 2050. Of particular note is its current involvement in developing hydrogen (H2) production capabilities in Northern Europe, the company taking on the role as a technical and commercial partner in a project to develop a network of offshore wind farms in the North Sea that will power onshore green H2 production. Given the project is backed by a consortium of industry heavyweights, the contract award is another major feather in Mott MacDonald’s extensive cap. The challenge A longstanding, multi-sector engineering and management consultancy service provider, Mott MacDonald has witnessed first-hand the peaks, troughs, breakthroughs and challenges facing the energy sector over recent decades. Today’s challenge very much centres around how to transition to a net zero society in a way that is feasible by 2050. The UK, along with many other nations, has made strong commitments that continue to be solidified at successive COP conferences, and time is getting away
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EIC Survive and Thrive
if targets such as those outlined in the Paris Agreement are to be met. Mott MacDonald can approach this challenge from a privileged position. Thanks to its formidable experience, it is able to help set industry thinking and passionately cares about meeting 2050 deadlines. The key question facing the company, therefore, lies in what projects to back and to ensure that its skills and knowledge are both futureproofed and invested in the right areas. The solution The company has been a proactive exponent of its partnership with EIC. Leveraging its contacts and information hub, it has been able to identify energy transition trends early and therefore invest in the relevant people and capabilities ahead of the curve, a formula which has won over clients time after time. This was undoubtedly the case with carbon capture, a technology it placed huge faith in and resultantly gained a significant market share in the early UK market. This included the installation of carbon capture and storage at Longannet power station in Scotland, a UK first at the time (2009). Today, it is actively positioning itself in the thermal energy transition market, as well as various applications of green hydrogen and associated products such as ammonia, ethanol and e-fuels. Indeed, hydrogen has been on the company’s radar for at least six years, with activity in this space snowballing since the turn of the decade. In 2021, Mott MacDonald secured involvement as the principle technical and commercial partner for NortH2,
2023