EET Hydrogen to proceed into final negotiations with UK Government to develop low carbon hydrogen plant in Ellesmere

February 8, 2024

EET Hydrogen is pleased to announce it has a statement of principles with the UK Government's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for its flagship HPP1 low-carbon hydrogen plant. Construction is expected to begin later this year.

The signing of the statement of principles marks an agreement milestone between EET Hydrogen and the UK Government on key aspects of negotiations to date. EET Hydrogen and the UK Government will now enter final negotiations, with the aim of making a final decision later this year.

HPP1 will have an initial production capacity of 350MW, will capture around 600,000 tonnes of CO2 a year - the equivalent to taking around 250,000 cars off the road.

This represents a major milestone for the UK hydrogen industry, for the HyNet Cluster and for EET Hydrogen's progress towards its goal of developing 4GW of low carbon hydrogen by 2030.

The hydrogen will be provided to industrial businesses across the North West of England to decarbonise their operations, protecting jobs and driving economic growth. The project is the cornerstone of the HyNet cluster and is essential for the cluster to commence construction later this year.

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said: "We have already halved our emissions from 1990 levels, and hydrogen will play a vital role in the UK's journey towards net zero by providing businesses large and small with cleaner energy in the future.

"By moving into final negotiations with the Ellesmere project, we are working to deliver our ambition of up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity, in an industry expected to support up to 12,000 jobs by 2030."

Tony Fountain, Managing Partner of EET said: "Today's statement of principles is a great outcome for both EET and the UK. Scaling hydrogen capacity is essential to decarbonising heavy industries. This is an important step in our ambitious decarbonisation plan to transform our business and the North West. We appreciate the Government's partnership which will contribute to protecting skilled jobs in the region and ensuring our industries remain competitive."

Joe Seifert, CEO of EET Hydrogen said: "This is a critical milestone for EET Hydrogen and the hydrogen sector in the UK. We are very proud to be leading the way and look forward to starting construction later this year."

ENDS

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About EET Hydrogen

EET Hydrogen is a leading player in the energy transition and is developing the first large scale, low carbon hydrogen production hub in the UK. This will produce (in its initial phases) 1.35GW of hydrogen capacity (more than enough to power a city like Liverpool) and capture some 2.5 million tonnes of carbon per annum (equivalent to taking 1.1 million cars off the roads).

By 2030, EET Hydrogen expects to deliver nearly 4GW of low carbon hydrogen - 40% of the UK Government's target. The organisation is investing an expected £1bn in the UK's largest industrial region (the North-West) to enable businesses to switch from fossil fuels to low carbon energy, helping to secure and grow vital industries and jobs and unlocking billions of pounds of related investment.

An integral part of HyNet, one of two UK Government's Track 1 clusters for industrial decarbonisation, EET Hydrogen's HPP1 plant was selected to progress as one of two initial large scale low carbon hydrogen production plants.

About EET

Essar Energy Transition was launched in 2023 to drive the creation of the UK's leading energy transition hub in North West England. EET plans to invest a total of US$3.6 billion in developing a range of low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years, of which US$2.4 billion will be invested across its site at Stanlow, between Liverpool and Manchester.

EET's investment programme will play a major role in accelerating the UK's low carbon transformation, supporting the government's decarbonisation policy and creating highly skilled employment opportunities at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse economy. EET includes:

• EET Fuels, developing the UK's first low carbon process refinery.

• EET Hydrogen, which is developing 1.35 GW of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with follow-on capacity to reach 4 GW;

• Stanlow Terminals Ltd, which is developing enabling storage and pipeline infrastructure, including the UK's largest Biofuel Storage hub.