Essar, an Indian multinational conglomerate, has welcomed the announcement made by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) regarding the selection of its Vertex Hydrogen project for one of the two hydrogen plants to help build the UK’s hydrogen economy.
The project has been chosen as part of Phase 2 of the cluster sequencing programme, which is supported by the UK government’s commitment to providing up to £20bn in funding for early deployment of carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) to meet its climate commitments.
Essar’s investment plan also includes Essar Energy Transition (EET), which aims to invest $3.6 billion in developing a range of low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years, of which $2.4 billion will be invested at the Stanlow site in Ellesmere Port, UK. The Vertex Hydrogen project will produce some 350MW of hydrogen from 2026, making it one of the UK’s leading low carbon hydrogen businesses. Furthermore, the project will capture and store some 600,000 tonnes of CO2 using HyNet’s carbon-capture infrastructure.
The project will provide a decarbonization route to vital industrial and power generation businesses, thereby delivering job certainty and growth in a globally emerging sector. It will also be the critical first step in building a hydrogen economy in the North West.
Essar’s investment strategy is founded on the fact that hydrogen and biofuels are fast becoming globally significant fuels of the future and that the UK is positioned strongly to spearhead the rapid growth of the European low carbon fuels market.
Furthermore, EET estimates that approximately two-thirds of its aggregate cash flows could come from diversified low carbon sources before the end of the decade. As a core part of the HyNet cluster, Essar’s Stanlow site is in one of the only two hydrogen clusters in the country to potentially be supported through to full operations. The Stanlow refinery itself will achieve a 75% reduction in carbon emissions before the end of this decade and net-zero by 2040.
