The UK government has picked Vertex Hydrogen, a partnership between Essar Oil UK and Progressive Energy, to be a part of one of the two hydrogen facilities that will support the development of the UK's hydrogen industry. The declaration comes after the UK government's pledge to allocate up to £20 billion in funding for the early use, storage, and capture of carbon emissions to support the fulfilment of its climate obligations.
The money encourages private investment and job growth in regions like the North West of England, where Essar is based in the UK. "I appreciate the UK government's backing for our investment and I welcome it. This gives us the assurance we need to proceed with our plans to EET construct a top energy transition hub in the North West of the UK, centred upon our Stanlow Refinery. Today, significant progress has been made, according to Essar Capital director Prashant Ruia. He added that the company is more confident than ever in the potential of their UK site, with its core
contribution to HyNet, to play a vital role in the UK’s decarbonisation strategy and to act as a catalyst for significant investment in the region. “We are demonstrating how legacy industrial businesses can become part of the solution, and drive decarbonisation across the North West’s industrial heartlands,” he said.
Vertex Hydrogen is a significant component of Essar Energy Transition (EET), which intends to invest $3.6 billion in the creation of a number of low carbon energy transition projects to aid the UK's decarbonization strategy. A variety of low-carbon energy transition projects will be developed over the next five years with the help of Essar's recently launched EET programme, of which $2.4 billion will be spent at the Stanlow site in Ellesmere Port, which is located halfway between Liverpool and Manchester.
Vertex Hydrogen, one of the UK's top low carbon hydrogen enterprises, will start producing 350 MW of hydrogen as part of this plan starting in 2026. With HyNet's carbon-capture infrastructure, over 600 thousand tonnes of CO2 will be caught and stored, which is the same as removing about 250,000 cars from the road.
Vertex offers critical but difficult-to-abate industrial and power generation industries a path to decarbonize, delivering job security and prosperity in a rapidly developing global industry. The industrial facility's direct investment, which will be close to £500 million, is an essential first step in creating a hydrogen economy in the North West.
The UK already has a highly developed legal and policy framework to encourage the development of low-carbon energy, including the government's goal of producing 10 GW of hydrogen by 2030. EET will invest $1.2 billion in creating a cost-effective global supply hub for low carbon fuels in India in addition to the $2.4 billion it will invest in the UK.
