Vertex Hydrogen, a joint venture of Essar group and UK’s Progressive Energy, has signed agreements to supply over 1,000 MW of low carbon hydrogen to leading industrial names in the UK, the company said on Thursday. “This is a similar amount of energy that powers a major city like Liverpool, secures the entire initial hydrogen production capacity of Vertex and enables the vital hydrogen infrastructure investments in the region,” the company said in a statement.
Vertex is building a hydrogen manufacturing unit at Essar’s Stanlow refinery complex in the UK. The joint venture, in which Essar Oil UK holds 90 per cent, will produce 1 gigawatt (GW) of hydrogen per year from two units from 2026.
The project, which will see over 2 billion pound of direct investment in the hydrogen plant and associated regional hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure, will capture some 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 per annum to be stored by the HyNet project to reduce more than 10 per cent of the region’s industrial emissions – the equivalent to taking 750,000 cars off the roads.
Companies such as Tata Chemicals, Encirc, InterGen, Solvay, Ingevity, Novelis, Glass Futures and Saica Paper have expressed interest in procuring hydrogen from Vertex. Pilkington United Kingdom, Fulcrum BioEnergy, SOG Group, Carrington Power, Cadent, Warrington Ingevity, and other companies procuring hydrogen from Vertex.
Adrian Curry, Managing Director of Encirc, said: “This partnership with Vertex Hydrogen will help us to change the face of glass as we aim to produce net zero bottles by 2030.”
Deepak Maheshwari, CEO of Essar Oil UK, said the offtake agreements are continuing examples of clear actions taken to deliver strategic goals. “We are proud to be a leader in the region and the UK more broadly in industrial decarbonisation”.
Martin Ashcroft, Managing Director of Tata Chemicals Europe, commented: “We have been supporters of Vertex and the low carbon hydrogen segment as a real opportunity to further reduce emissions at our world class CHP facility. This agreement marks the next step in our relationship as we continue our journey as a leader in industrial decarbonisation.”
Joe Seifert, CEO of Vertex Hydrogen, said: “We have now signed agreements for over 1,000 MW of hydrogen – our entire expected production capacity from the initial phases of our project. This milestone gives us huge confidence in the economics of the project and the long-term demand for low carbon hydrogen in the coming decades.”
Prashant Ruia of Essar said securing over 1,000 MW of low carbon hydrogen demand from leading UK industrial sites and innovators is a vital step in delivering this world class project. “Essar continues to invest in an array of industry leading projects from hydrogen production, biofuels, industrial decarbonisation and infrastructure leveraging our infrastructure, expertise, capital and desire to be a world leader in decarbonisation.”
