Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply

National Highways is the government company charged with operating, maintaining and improving England's strategic road networks. The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) is a proposed new road connecting Kent, Thurrock and Essex through tunnels underneath the River Thames. The Programme will relieve the congested Dartford Crossing and approach roads and improve their performance by providing sufficient north-south road capacity. National Highways is in the process of awarding three contracts to Main Contractors who will be responsible for the design and build of LTC. The three main contracts are: Roads North of the Thames contract, the Tunnels and Approaches contract and the Kent Roads contract. It is anticipated that all three contracts will be awarded to the Main Contractors by the end of 2023.

National Highways has designated LTC a pathfinder project that will explore carbon neutral construction. Low Carbon Hydrogen is a key element in LTC’s strategy to deliver its carbon reduction targets and a key objective of this procurement is to enable a significant reduction in the use of diesel on the programme by enabling the use of hydrogen powered plant, machinery and generators. The procurement covers the production, delivery and storage on site of Low Carbon Hydrogen for use by the LTC appointed Main Contractors to fuel their construction plant and equipment. Making hydrogen easily available could displace over one third of the diesel forecast to be used during construction. Further details on the Lower Thames Project can be found here – https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/lower-thames-crossing/