Blog: The past, present and future of Tyseley Energy Park

The past: at the heart of Birmingham’s industrial heritage

Today, TEP is a cutting-edge innovation hub extending for over 17 acres – but its beginnings were much humbler. TEP’s history starts in 1720, when Joseph West Webster, an ironmonger, came to the area and founded Joseph West & Co., an ironworks that would significantly contribute to Birmingham’s burgeoning industrial economy.

“[At the time], Birmingham was known for its egalitarian society,” explains David Horsfall, Director of Property and Sustainability at TEP. “This was a place where anybody with a good idea could come and develop their project, and bring forward ideas and technologies.”

From then on, TEP was at the forefront of the innovations brought about by the steam engine. The site became instrumental in contributing to some of the biggest innovations of the next two centuries, from the first transatlantic telegraph cable, to new solutions for the emerging automotive industry.

“One thing that we’re quite proud of is the Great Exhibition that happened in Hyde Park, at Crystal Palace, in 1851,” continues David. “Joseph West Webster won a gold medal for innovation because he had invented a way of reducing steel, which meant it was much stronger than any wire that had ever been produced before. And this was the sort of thing you could do back then. You could literally change the world.”

This is an amazing heritage for TEP to tap into, and one that the energy professionals at TEP are incredibly proud of. The site has now evolved from traditional industries such as ironworks and steel production, into a cutting-edge hub for cleantech. However, its commitment to serving the business community as well as the wider population of Birmingham remains unchanged.

The present: cleantech innovation powered by partnerships

Innovation during the Industrial Revolution came at a high cost. Pollution jeopardised people’s health, causing a rise in respiratory conditions and infectious diseases. And it was only in 1956, with the Clean Air Act, that regulators started to put the brakes to development at all costs.

This, combined with a new focus on energy security and the need for reliable power, led to a gradual but drastic transformation of TEP. Power supply became centralised, leading to more energy stability and therefore more opportunities for industrial development.

However, new concerns for air quality and the environmental consequences of industrial growth led regulators to reconsider the way in which we produce and consume energy. Today, as the energy system transitions to accommodate more renewable power, decentralisation seems once again like the best solution. “It’s funny that now we’ve come full circle,” comments David.

To accelerate this transformation and support the shift to clean energy, TEP is establishing a series of promising partnerships with businesses, academia and public institutions.

One of these partnerships was with the City Council, and led to the creation of Birmingham's Green Commission, which is introducing sustainability-focused initiatives such as clean air zones and land use planning.

Another partnership called Energy Capital was formed by the gathering of multiple organisations, including local universities as well as public and private sector partners. The aim of Energy Capital is to lead the way in the transformation of the energy system. It acts as a hub where energy innovators can come together, discuss the best future energy solutions, and experiment with TEP’s technology to transform their vision into reality.

One of these solutions is, unsurprisingly, hydrogen. For example, TEP contains a commercial-scale hydrogen kitchen to demonstrate how this gas can be used for cooking and other domestic applications. What’s even more exciting is that the kitchen uses green hydrogen produced via electrolysis on TEP’s premises.

This allows energy professionals at TEP to study how hydrogen can be incorporated into our energy mix in a controlled research environment. Over time, it will also allow them to have better insights into how hydrogen production can be scaled up to meet present and future energy challenges.

The future: creating change through stakeholder and community engagement

Stakeholder and community engagement are key priorities for current projects at TEP, where the views of local businesses and residents are often gathered to help influence future decisions. Going forward, involving the locals will remain a priority to ensure a collaborative approach to shaping future energy policies.

Exciting new projects include research to deliver low and zero carbon solutions for heat and waste management – from hydrogen to energy storage technologies. For example, TEP is currently part of a consortium to build a National Centre for Decarbonisation of Heat, which is a national project to explore the future of domestic heating.

Other exciting projects include a plant, currently under development, to extract rare earths from electrical waste. These will be reprocessed into magnets that could be used in wind turbines manufacturing – a great example of circular economy.

TEP also aims at continuing its university partnerships, tapping into the pool of innovation provided by the brilliant research institutions of the West Midlands. Finally, another priority will be to kick off a school engagement program with National Grid, SSC and others to develop the next generation of energy professionals.

Thanks to the tight network of collaborations fostered by TEP, the future looks bright for Birmingham’s energy and waste management sectors. At Xoserve, we are proud to have such an innovative decarbonisation hub on our doorstep, and are looking forward to seeing its contributions to the local and national net zero agenda.

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