INSIGHTS / News

During IRENA’s Innovation Week, the Alliance for Industry Decarbonisation (AFID) hosted its highly anticipated Technology Innovation Showcase, co-organised with the Net Zero Technology Centre, spotlighting pioneering technologies tackling one of the most urgent challenges of our time: industrial CO₂ emissions.

Accounting for roughly a third of all global energy and process-related emissions, industrial decarbonisation is a critical piece of the puzzle in achieving net zero. The Showcase brought together innovators, industry leaders, and policy influencers to highlight scalable solutions already reshaping the industrial energy landscape.

AFID proudly announced Latent Drive as one of the winners of the 2025 Technology Innovation Showcase. Frazer Ely, CEO & Founder of Latent Drive, was recognised for a groundbreaking green hydrogen innovation: a direct seawater-to-hydrogen electrolyser stack, known as SeaStack.

Latent Drive’s SeaStack technology bypasses the need for costly desalination and rare metals, producing green hydrogen directly from seawater using renewable energy, at a target cost of under $2/kg. This breakthrough not only addresses the cost challenge facing green hydrogen production but also opens up new deployment models on harbour walls, offshore wind turbines, and floating energy platforms.

Latent Drive’s win follows a series of major milestones for the company. Earlier this year, it secured a £630k grant under Innovate UK’s Launchpad South West Marine and Maritime competition to demonstrate the SeaStack system as part of the HydroPort consortium, fuelling a harbour patrol vessel with green hydrogen produced directly from seawater. The trials, 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, will assess the technology’s role in port decarbonisation, a key focus as the marine sectors pivot toward offshore renewables and zero-emission fuels.

SeaStack is optimised for offshore installation, with a wide dynamic range to maximise wind energy capture and deliver robust performance in challenging marine environments. It supports national efforts to transform coastal areas like Dorset into renewable energy superclusters, where green hydrogen production and storage could eventually serve international shipping routes and grid-scale energy needs.

Backed by over £1.1 million in government grants, including support from the Net Zero Technology Centre, Latent Drive is now raising a further £2.5 million in investment, including a £250k Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) allowance, to accelerate commercial deployment.

The sustainable tech company is a member of SETsquared’s Hydrogen & Sustainable Transport Economy Accelerator and the University of Bath’s GW-SHIFT programme.

AFID’s Showcase reinforced the importance of collaboration across industry sectors and geographies to fast-track solutions for a net-zero industrial future. As part of IRENA’s Innovation Week, the event served as a rallying point for the kind of real-world, scalable innovation the global climate effort urgently requires.