Essar Energy Transition Welcomes UK Backing for HPP1 Project

New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) Essar Energy Transition (EET) welcomed Friday's announcement by the UK Government confirming its support of the HyNet cluster.

The UK government announced 21.7 billion pounds of funding over 25 years to support the construction of two carbon capture clusters in northern England that include large blue hydrogen projects. The money will be for the HyNet hub in Merseyside and the East Coast Cluster hubs in Teesside, which will see more than 8.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year stored under the Irish Sea and North Sea.

EET's HyNet project includes two blue hydrogen projects EET's 350-megawatt Hydrogen Production Plant 1 (HPP1) and 1-gigawatt Hydrogen Production Plant 2 (HPP2).

In a statement, EET said its division, EET Hydrogen, is developing the first large-scale, low-carbon hydrogen production hub in the UK at its site in Stanlow, which will produce 1,350 MW of hydrogen capacity in total and capture around 2.5 million tonnes of carbon per annum - equivalent to taking 1.1 million cars off the roads.

The EET Hydrogen hub will enable regional industrial and power generation businesses to decarbonise by switching from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy, it added.

The low-carbon hydrogen will be used locally by EET Fuels' Stanlow refinery and other major manufacturers in the region, including Encirc, Pilkington and Tata Chemicals to create the first low-carbon refining operations, glass and chemicals manufacturing sites in the world.

The EET Hydrogen hub will help to secure and grow vital industries, create jobs and unlock billions of pounds of related investment.

EET Hydrogen will develop the hydrogen hub in two phases, with the first plant (HPP1) at 350 MW capacity, the second (HPP2) at 1,000 MW capacity and an overall target capacity of 4,000 MW+ by 2030.

EET Hydrogen expects to begin construction of HPP1 in 2025, with low-carbon hydrogen being produced at the site by 2028.

Tony Fountain, Managing Partner of EET, said: "Fantastic to see the Government moving forward with the HyNet cluster, at the heart of which is our first low carbon hydrogen production plant at Stanlow, creating jobs and growth in the North West. Now that government support is confirmed, we look forward to taking our final investment decision and starting construction in 2025".

Joe Seifert, CEO of EET Hydrogen, added: "Today's announcement from the Government represents a critical moment in the UK's hydrogen industry. The North West is once again leading global industry into a new era - producing critical everyday items but without the carbon impact. This investment will help to secure and grow jobs in our manufacturing heartlands for generations to come".